Daydream Scenario
by XxConverseWithMyConversexX
Summary: Sorano is quite the interesting character. Shikamaru can't believe their relationship, but most of it is misfortune. Will they ever get together? Will they ever be truly happy? Are they moving too fast? Or is this all a mirage? ShikaOC NejiOC
1. Entangled Thoughts

**Heyy, heyyy.  
Welcomeeeee, I guess I should say.****  
This is the first fanfiction I have written, really.  
By the way, sorry about the shortness.  
Future chapters will definitely be longer!  
But, anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the plot, so far.  
**

* * *

I watched in awe as the large, puffy clouds circled the bright blue sky. The cirrus clouds were almost any shape you could think of. They reformed almost as quickly as they deformed.

"_I believe it might rain soon_," I thought, refusing to get up from such a comfortable spot on the carpeted grass. I began to close my eyes, but, before I could blink, I heard footsteps coming towards me. "_What? It's been five minutes and people are already coming to get me_?" I thought, irritated.

"Shikaaaaamaruuuuu!" a nasally, boy-crazed voice called from a distance.

"Ugh.. how surprising. Ino," I said disappointingly.

Opening one eye, I saw Ino walk up and look down on me while I was in my usual laying-down position with my hands folded behind my head.

"Shikamaru," Ino started.

"What do you want, you troublesome woman?" I answered her rudely.

"Are you gonna come train with me and Chouji?" She held her hands in front of her while rocking forwards and backwards on her heels.

"What? We just got done training and I just sat down. Go away, Ino. Give me a break."

Chouji appeared from behind Ino and said, "Aw, come on, Shikamaru. It's just a little training, to get ready for our next mission."

"Tell Asuma-sensei that I'll take a rain check," I replied.

"Shikamaru, we all know that your supposed 'rain check' is just you and him having a shougi match, and, we all know that you're gonna win."

"Exactly."

They both sighed, said their goodbyes, and sulkily went back to the training field to tell Asuma the news.

I shrugged from where I was and settled myself back into the comforting grass.

The clouds seemed totally different since I'd been interrupted. I analyzed each one until my eyes closed gently and I began imagining clouds in my own perspective.

As the clouds swirled around my head, I began to think about more realistic things, such as how was my next mission going to go and about the opponents we were to face and the justu combos we would use.

Then, I thought about the life and death situation I had been in just a few more days before. Because I was the only who seemed to pass the chuunin exams and was promoted, Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, put me in charge of a mission as dangerous as rescuing a ninja who didn't want to be rescued.

Uchiha Sasuke.

He made me put some of my best friends in extreme danger by leaving the village and betraying all of his fellow shinobi. That rogue ninja really got me unnerved.

But, more importantly, I thought about my private, rarely-thought-of love life. The few kunoichi my age weren't exactly my type. Some were too shy, like Hinata or Tenten, or just way too loud, like Ino or Sakura. Or way too good at what they did, like Temari or Tayuya. The fact that they were as good as, maybe even better, than me didn't settle well at all. I mean, all of them were exceedingly great ninjas and everything, but I was beginning to get to the point where I wanted someone other than Chouji to lay on the grass with and stare at the clouds. They just didn't fit my ideal girlfriend.

I decided to put those confusing and frustrating thoughts aside and began to drift to sleep, until I heard footsteps coming closer and closer to me. I kept my eyes shut as to not scare the person and waited for them to talk to me or tap me on the shoulder, maybe even leave. But, instead they sat down and laid next to me on the grass. I opened my right eye slightly, the one that was closest to the person, and looked around. There seemed to not be anything there. I quickly opened my eyes all the way and sat up and made sure what I saw was correct and that I heard footsteps in the first place. How would no one being there explain the sounds I just heard? I looked at the place where I'd thought I'd heard the sounds and noticed a slight imprint in the grass. I was almost positive that that wasn't supposed to be there. I put my hand towards the imprint and I felt some sort of texture and heard a.. giggle?

Now, I was sure. Someone was using an invisible ninjutsu.

"Hello?" I called out to the loneliness.

I received a giggle in reply.

"C'mon, now. I'm not that dumb. You should know I'll figure your jutsu out soon enough. Reveal yourself."

Nothing happened, although I could've sworn I heard a small gasp.

"Just release your jutsu. I'm not mad. I just want to know who you are."

Suddenly, an outline gradually began to form and was eventually filled to show a young girl, probably a year younger than I was. But, she wasn't from Konoha. So, who exactly was she?

"W-who are you?" I asked, raising one eyebrow.

"S-sorano. Sabaku no Sorano," she said.

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**Alrighttttt.  
I know this isn't the longest chapter, but you're gonna have to bare with me.  
Thank you for reading, if you have.  
Review, please and thanks!**


	2. Arguments and Apologies

**Hey, guys.  
Thanks for sticking with me.  
Soooo, I hope you like so far, and I hope you enjoy the future chapters.**

**Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto. I own Sorano and the plot.  
**

* * *

"S-sorano. Sabaku no Sorano," the girl said. She had a long purple dress on that was slit on the sides, revealing legs that were wrapped up and down, seemingly, the entire limb. She had dark, blue hair that was bound into a long ponytail that trailed down to her waist.

"Why are you here? Are you a spy for Orochimaru?" Shikamaru said, suspicions rising. _Well, I suppose she kinda couldn't be. Sabaku? Suna? Well, either way, I was taught to never trust anyone. I'm not caving in now_.

"N-no! I'm here on business!" Sorano spoke out.

"Honestly, what business do you have stalking me?" Shikamaru shot back, sitting up on his elbows.

Sorano quickly stood. "I-I'm sorry! I just thought-"

"I wouldn't notice you? Well, I'm not as stupid as you think. Your ninjutsu is easily depicted. What sort of a ninja are you, anyway?"

Sorano narrowed her eyes on that bastard. How dare he question her ability as a ninja? "What did you say?"

"I said, how can the likes of you be counted as a ninja?"

"Go to hell, Shikamaru. And, to think, I actually thought you were cute."

"Wait, what did you say? And how do you know my name?"

Sorano, realizing what she said, blushed. "Uh- I thought you said you weren't going to get mad. You seem pretty aggravated now."

"Wait a second. I asked you questions. Answer them."

Not knowing what else to do, she called out, "I gotta go", turned around, and ran towards Konoha. She definitely did not want to emphasize on how she'd thought he was cute and how she'd known who he was and where to find him in the first place. Running, she thought about what he said to her.

_Tell me that I'm not good enough a ninja. I'm more powerful than those idiots back in Suna. He can't even comprehend the power that I wield. Dumb ass_.

**He's definitely got a nice one at that.**

_Do what? No, he does not! And, where'd you come from, anyway?_

**Don't worry about it. And, he definitely does. Come on, now. Do not deny that ass of his.**

_You know? You need to shut up and go back to your little_-

Sorano's thoughts and actions were suddenly seized when she heard Shikamaru call out, "Kagemane no jutsu!" and a strange bond wrapped around her, putting the control she had over her own body to a halt.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Sorano asked behind her.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm stopping you from leaving and I'm getting the answers to my questions out of you," Shikamaru replied, turning her around to face him.

"What do you care, anyway? I'm just some girl you're never going to see again. Why would it matter if I knew who you were? I know who everyone is."

"You could be a spy for an enemy and I definitely do not want information getting out. So, why don't you tell me what your business is here?" he said, while pulling out a kunai from his weapon pouch.

Sorano's gaze glared in defense, taking the position Shikamaru was in. "I-I was just here for a mission. In fact, it was to help your fellow shinobi. I came here with Sabaku no Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. I'm a medi-nin from Suna, but I didn't mean to cause any trouble. While they helped you, Inuzuka Kiba, and Rock Lee, my knowledge of who you all are coming from my teammates, I had to help deliver the injured bodies, uh, Akimichi Chouji and Hyuuga Neji, to the hospital."

"Well, that answers one question. Continue."

Sorano blushed hard. She tried her hardest to hide it, but, apparently, it didn't work. "Why should I tell you? I don't owe you anything. You don't even know me."

"True, but, if you really didn't want to be here, you would be resisting my shadow. You're just standing there, letting yourself be captured. At least some ninja I've fought have actually shown some resistance. You? You fight like shit."

"Last time I checked, we weren't fighting. But, soon enough, your chakra will wear out anyway. So, why put so much strain into something you can't get out of? Isn't it smarter to just wait it out, even though you may receive some damage?"

_Keh_.. Shikamaru took his body out of his attacking position. _She's actually smarter than I thought_. "Hn."

"What? Did I outsmart you or something?"

"No. I just didn't have anything to say."

"Hn. Liar," she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Hm? No, I didn't say anything."

"Well, give me the answer to my question."

"Ugh.. if it will shut you up. I said that I thought you were cute. Happy?"

"Somewhat." Shikamaru released the jutsu and began walking towards her. "So, what reason do you have for, uh, following me like this?"

Sorano regained her own composure and stood on the path that they happened to run upon. She watched him closely as he got closer and closer to her. When he was about six inches away from her, she looked into his black, beady eyes. "I.." she took a deep breath. "I wanted to get to know you. But, now, I'm not so sure."

Shikamaru looked down at her shielded position. "I'm sorry I came on so strong. I didn't know who you were, so I suspected the worst. That's how I am with everyone."

Sorano looked into his forgiving eyes even more. "I.. it's fine. I'm sorry, too, you know? I should have properly introduced myself, but I decided to be all stalker-like and-"

Suddenly, Sorano was interrupted by a loud voice coming from behind her.

"Shikamaruuuuuu!" a boy's voice called out.

Shikamaru quickly looked up and saw a yellow, orange, and blue blur running towards them. He smirked at the boy, realizing it was Uzumaki Naruto. The blur sped up faster and faster and started to focus, but, Shikamaru knew something was wrong when Naruto kept speeding up, with no intention of stopping.

"Uhm, Sorano?" Shikamaru tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" Sorano looked at him confused.

"Run."

"What?"

Naruto was just about hit them, until Shikamaru saved them both by picking Sorano up and quickly running to the grass next to the path. He landed on top of her on the soft patches.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru yelled as he got off of Sorano.

Naruto was splattered across the dirt path. "Dattebayo.." he murmured.

Shikamaru stomped lazily over to the fox boy. "What is your problem?! Why the hell were you going so fast!"

Naruto brushed the dirt from his eyes and looked up at Shikamaru. "Calm down, dattebayo. I wanted to see the girl you were with."

Shikamaru sweat-dropped. "So, you could have damaged three people, including yourself, just to see a girl?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, that was a waste on your part."

"What?"

"I'm saying, she's not really worth much of your time."

Sorano noticed two other people walking down the path, one girl with short, pink hair with a long, red, sleeveless shirt and some green shorts on and an older man with spiky silver hair with a scroll on his back. And, now that she saw the other boy more closely he had blonde, spiky hair with a orange and blue jumpsuit on. Suddenly, she picked up Shikamaru's and the blonde-haired boy's conversation. She swiftly walked to them.

"Excuse me?" Sorano tapped Shikamaru on his shoulder. "What did you just say?"

Shikamaru turned his head over his shoulder and looked at her. Then, he looked back at Naruto. "Do you see what I mean?"

"No," Naruto said, bluntly.

"But, she's troublesome and a pain in the ass. Something you really wouldn't have any interest in."

"I don't know about that. All a girl really needs is a prettier face than Sakura's and I'm hers," Naruto turned to look at Sorano, but then noticed Sakura nearing closer and closer to him.

Sakura growled, "Naruto.." She bunched her fingers into a fist, pulled it back and let it fly.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapterrrr!  
I had fun writing it. (:  
Laterrrr!**


	3. Pain

Chapter Three.  
I have nothing to say.  
But this is the longest chapter though.

Disclaimer: I don't own the chracters of Naruto and blahblahblah. Mhm.

* * *

Chapter Three

Ero-Sennins and Broken Noses

Sakura hit Naruto so hard that she sent him, and Shikamaru, flying in the air. When they hit the ground, dust went flying everywhere.

Sorano went over to Sakura and commented, "Impressive strength."

Sakura looked Sorano over very carefully. "Yeah. Who are you?"

Sorano sighed. She didn't want to have to introduce herself again but she knew she would have to anyway. "I am Sorano of the Sand. I was here on mission with Gaara-san, Kankuro-san, and Temari-niichan. We have not left yet to go back to Sunagakure."

"Oh."

"You are Haruno Sakura, am I right?"

"Yes, I am."

Sorano nodded her head in approval and looked over at Shikamaru and Naruto. Naruto had landed on Shikamaru which made Shikamaru literally steam at this point. But because of his laziness, he only shoved Naruto off of him, stood up, brushed the dust off of him, and walked towards Sakura and Sorano.

"Thanks alot, Sakura," Shikamaru scoffed.

"I didn't know you were gonna get caught in it. I'm sorry," Sakura guiltily said.

"Are you okay, Shikamaru-sama?" Sorano quickly inquired.

As Shikamaru was about to say something, Naruto quickly cut in, "Yes, I'm fine, Sorano-chan. No need to worry."

Sorano stared at Naruto blankly. "That's nice, Naruto-kun." She turned back to Shikamaru. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shikamaru said, uneffected.

Sorano wondered why he made such a big deal out of everything and then, suddenly, mellowed out.

Then, Jiraiya happily came up the path, whistling a joyful tune, as if nothing had ever happen to Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sakura. He looked at them all, Naruto laying on the ground, limbs sprawled out, Sakura, standing as if she thought Naruto got what he deserved, Shikamaru's lazy pose, and Sorano's innocent and foreign look.

"Ero-sennin! Sakura punched me!" Naruto exclaimed in a whiny voice.

"Stop whining! You got what you had coming to you," Sakura logically explained.

"Stop that!" Jiraiya yelled at the top of his lungs. He turned to Sorano and said, "Who is the beautiful young lady?"

"Ero-sennin!!!! No!! She's our age!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison.

Shikamaru's eyes bulged out. Sorano slowly backed away. Jiraiya stood in silence for a moment.

"WHAT?!?!!?!?!" Jiraiya roared. "I'm not into younger girls!!!!" He turned to Sorano and explained, "I'm sorry for their rudeness. What is your name?"

Sorano looked him over and said, "My name is Sorano. I come of Sunagakure here on a mission. My mission invovled Nara Shikamaru-sama and Uzumaki Naruto-kun." She put her hands on their shoulders. "I did not get to meet them seeing as I am a medi-nin and I had to take care the bodies that were left behind."

"Nice to meet you, Sorano. Thank you for helping Konoha in its time of need."

"Your welcome- uhm.. what is your name?"

"I am the toad sage! My name is... Jiraiya!"

"Jiraiya? One of the legendary sannin?" Sorano quickly bowed. "I'm sorry for disrespecting you, Jiraiya-sannin."

Jiraiya smiled at his importance.

"Why would you respect this perv?!?!" Naruto burst out.

Sorano looked at Naruto. "How could you not respect him? You should always respect your elders even if they are the most perverted people in the country," she strongly elucidated. "Plus, he's probably strong enough to take out anyone except Tsunade-sannin."

Jiraiya had a flashback of when he and Naruto had set out to find Tsunade so they could make her Hokage. He thought of the fight with Orochimaru and Tsunade and how she and he almost defeated Orochimaru. But even they, the legendary sannin, could not defeat him.

Jiraiya scolded, "You think I couldn't beat Tsunade?! Why do you think that?!"

Sorano looked down. "I'm sorry. Its just that Tsunade-sannin is my idol. I strive to be like her more and more each day. And one day I will become Kazekage just as she became Hokage."

Shikamaru thought, "_Now she's starting to sound like Naruto. God, I hate him. He embarrassed me so much around Sorano. Wait, if she acts like Naruto why can't still I get her off of my mind? I hate those over-confident and prideful people. She sounds almost exactly like Naruto yet she doesn't portray herself to be a prideful brat._"

"I don't mean to sound imprudent. Its just that I think that if anyone has a dream, they should be confident about fulfilling that dream," she continued.

Shikamaru continued his thoughts. "_And _that's_ exactly why I like her. She's so.. intruiging._" He said aloud, "Until you said that, you sounded almost exactly like Naruto with becoming the Hokage."

"Naruto, you want to be Hokage?" Sorano asked, interested.

Everyone turned to look at Naruto. He sat on the path with a finger in his nose. Just then, Hinata came skipping down the path. She had not been looking down at her feet, and, well, she ran right into Naruto.

"AOWWW!!!!!!!!!" Naruto bellowed.

Everyone except for Hinata and Naruto laughed the hardest that they could. When Hinata ran into Naruto, his finger went all the way up into his nostril. His nose was bleeding yet, Naruto could not get his finger out of his most-likely broken nose.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," Hinata pleaded softly. "I didn't, I mean, I wasn't, I mean.. I didn't see you there. I'm sorry."

Naruto gave Hinata a scolding look. "Hinata." He looked at her trembling and started to let up his look up.

Sorano was the first to try to stop laughing. "Naruto-kun, it seems that your nose is broken. I am sorry that you have to go through this humiliation and pain," she said, suppressing a laugh.

"M-my nose is broken?!?" Naruto interrogated.

"Well, it looks that way. We don't have to put you through any more humilia-" Sorano was cut off by Shikamaru covering her mouth.

"Can I talk to you?" Shikamaru queried.

"M-mhm.." Sorano hesitated.

Sorano and Shikamaru went to the other side of the path while Hinata was apologizing, once again, to Naruto for breaking his nose.

"Were you gonna say that you could bandage him up right here?" Shikamaru asked, mischievously.

"Well, yes, but-" Sorano was cut off.

"Well, what I was thinking was that we could make him go to the hostpital anyway and of course he's gonna have to walk through town with his finger in his nose and it would be the perfect revenge!" Shikamaru interpreted enthusiastically.

Sorano was surprised at his vengeful enthusiasm. "But isn't that kinda mean?"

"But he's mean to me.."

"I'm sure he doesn't mean it."

"You don't know Naruto."

"Apparently neither do you."

Sorano and Shikamaru glared each other in the eyes. They weren't giving up on their opinions. Sorano bunched her fists up. Shikamaru resisted the want to slap her. Although he tried his hardest, his resistance did not work. His hand rose to her face, it pulled back, and there was a loud smack. Sorano's head went to the left. There was complete silence. She turned her head to look at him with tears in her eyes. She put her hand to soothe the sting on her cheek.

"I-" Shikamaru started.

"Save it, Shikamaru-sama. I see I've caused much trouble here. I'll leave immediately," Sorano said and turned and walked away from Shikamaru. As she walked, the tears started flowing from her cheeks. "_I thought he was good. I guess I thought wrong. But.. he was so nice. How can he be like that? I-I loved him. No, I _love_ him._"

Sorano stopped for a second. She slightly turned her head to look back at Shikamaru. When she realized he wasn't there where he was standing before, she turned around to look completely down the path. She looked to the right of her and saw Jiraiya, Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto staring at her. She looked to the front of her and saw Shikamaru about six centimeters away from her. He put his hands to her face, held her head in his hands, and wiped the tears from her eyes. He put his forehead to hers and quietly said, "I'm sorry, Sorano."

Sorano didn't know what to say. He was so unpredictable. She was so hurt by his reaction to their bickering, yet touched by the way he apologized for his mistake.

"Sorano," he whispered as he closed his eyes. "Please stay with me. I will never ever hurt you, in any way, again. I swear on my life."

Sorano pulled away from his warm hands and held them tightly. Shikamaru opened his eyes to look at her. She gazed deeply into them. "Shikamaru, I want to tell you something."

"Yes, Sorano?" he sqeezed her hand lightly.

"I love you, Shikamaru-sama."


	4. Separation

Chapter Four.  
This one is kinda sad..  
Sorta.  
Chyahh...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or characters or places of Naruto. Except Sorano.

* * *

Chapter Four

Not Meant to Be

Shikamaru stared blankly into Sorano's eyes. "Y-you love me?"

Sorano put a sad look on her face and looked down. She slammed her hand onto the top of her head and pulled her long hair. "You're so stupid, Sorano. Why would you do something like that?" she rudely asked herself aloud.

"Sorano, you aren't stupid. Don't say that." He put a hand under her chin to make her look at him. "I was just surprised that you told me you love me."

Sorano looked up at Shikamaru with sad eyes and sighed.

Shikamaru continued, "But.. I have to tell you something also."

Sorano lessened the sad look in her eyes. "What?"

"Sorano, I love you, too."

Sorano's sad look totally vanished. "W-what?"

"I love you, Sorano." He leaned down and gently pressed his lips against hers. Sorano serenated the tender kiss.

They stood there with an audience of four for what seemed like ten minutes. As they both slowly pulled away, they smiled sweetly at each other.

Sorano snapped into reality. "Wait, Shikamaru. You can't love me. I can't love you. We're too far away from each other. I live in the Wind Country. You live in the Fire Country." As Sorano kept thinking, she fell to the ground and felt the sharp pain of not being with Shikamaru. She let out a small yelp and cried like no other time before. The physical and mental pain built up inside of her and was let out by the hot tears coming down her face.

Shikamaru knelt beside Sorano. He rubbed her back with his right hand and lifted her damp face with his left. "Sorano, we'll be alright. We can make it through all of that. It'll be troublesome but we can do it. I'll come visit you everyday. No matter how long it takes me."

Sorano looked at Shikamaru. She thought it was ironic that, at this point, they practically switched personalities completely. She was so positive and he was so.. not. Now he was the one being positive about the painful situation and she was being negative about the whole thing. "Shikamaru, do you really think that you'll get up every single day and come visit someone like me? And I'm sure you'll be too busy with missions and everything."

"Well.. I don't know what to do. The only thing I _do _know is that I want to be with you."

"Shikamaru, I want to be with you too. I just don't see how this is gonna work though."

"It can't work if you aren't willing to make it work."

"Shikamaru.. I.. I can't."

Shikamaru put a disappointed look on his face. He put his hands on his face to wipe the sadness away. He stood up and looked down at Sorano. "_I give up on you, Sorano. I'm sorry. But you don't want to try. I guess this is where it ends. I'm gonna miss you. Even though its been two hours. I feel like we were meant to be. But-_" his thoughts were interrupted by Sorano.

"Shikamaru," she stood up and looked into his eyes, "I want to make this work. I just don't know what effect it would put on our lives though."

"That doesn't really matter. As long as we're together, everything's fine."

"But.." Sorano put her head down.

"Hey, Sorano!" someone called from a distance.

As Sorano turned her head to see who it was, she realized it was Temari calling her.

"Temari.." Sorano called back unenthusiastically.

Tamari ran up to Sorano and Shikamaru. "Sorano, its about time to set out to leave."

Sorano looked up at Temari. "Oh, okay. I'm sorry, Shikamaru. Goodbye."

Sorano walked away from Shikamaru and joined Temari heading down the road away from Konoha Village. As she walked farther away the more he missed her and the more she missed him.

They thought about each other the rest of the day. By the way, Naruto did go to the hospital and his nose wasn't broken surprisingly and Jiraiya, Sakura, and he headed to the Sound Village to do research on Orochimaru.

Sorano and Shikamaru always kept the hope that they would see each other sometime soon.

* * *

Mhm..  
The end.  
Of that chapter.  
Hope you enjoyed.  
Review..! 


	5. 5 Years Later

Chapter Fivee... xDD

I actually like this chapter. And this one has Gaara in it.. xP  
Sorry if you Gaara-lovers get offended.

Disclaimer: The manga/show Naruto is not mine and will never be mine. The plot of this story and OC character, Sorano, are mine though.

* * *

Chapter Five

It's Been 5 Years

Shikamaru woke up to the sun shining on his face. He covered his eyes from the unfamiliar light. He sat up and looked around his messy room. "_I've got to clean this room up sometime or another. Ah, oh well. I'll do it later,_" he thought. He got up and fumbled throught the giant piles of clothes in his floor. He picked up his Jounin vest and his wrinkled black shirt and pants. Once he put them on, he walked out of his house and down the streets of Konoha to the Hokage's domicile.

"Shizune, there have been some problems in the Sand Village. I need someone to get there and talk to the Kazekage for me," Tsunade explained to Shizune.

"Uhm, okay. Who would-" Shizune was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Tsunade looked at Shizune suspiciously. "Come in," she granted.

Shikamaru lazily came in the room. "Hey, Fifth."

Tsunade quickly changed the look towards Shizune notably saying, "Him".

Shikamaru noticed it. "What do you want me to do?"

Tsunade turned to face Shikamaru. "I want you to go to Sunagakure to talk to the Kazekage for me."

When Tsunade said this, he automatically thought of the love he had from that village. "Okay, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade explained the problems and Shikamaru quickly left to go to Sunagakure. He walked for a few hours and he eventually reached the gates. He told the guards his purpose for being there. They accepted him into the village and Shikamaru went to the Kazekage's office. He knocked on the door and was granted permission by the voice of a woman. Shikamaru knew that the Kazekage was Subaku no Gaara. So, why was there a woman's voice behind the door? There was only one way to find out. He turned the knob and entered the room. When he saw the contents inside, his jaw dropped almost to the floor.

He looked around the large office. To his right was the balcony overlooking Sunagakure, to the front of him was Gaara sitting in his desk, and to his left was a girl who looked vaguely familiar. Then it hit him. It was who he had thought about all this time. He couldn't believe it was her.

"Stop staring at my wife and tell me what you need," Gaara said in his usual selfish-rude voice.

Shikamaru thought for a second. "_WIFE?!?_" He bounced back into reality and replied with a slight twitch, "I'm sorry Kazekage-sama. I am here from Konoha to talk to you about the problems here."

"Ah. Sorano-chan, please give this man the papers with the requests. And what is wrong with your eye?"

"Uhm, it's nothing, Kazekage-sama," Shikamaru said, struggling to stop the twitch.

The girl walked over to Shikamaru and handed the hand-written pages to him. She gave him a slight wink, sending Shikamaru into jumbled thoughts. "_I thought she was Gaara's _wife_! Now she's winking at me!?!?! Is she a tramp? I'd never think of someone that I was into would be like that._"

Shikamaru took the papers and skimmed them thoroughly. "These are a bunch of requests to do field work for the farmers. All of the problems are of the shortage of water? And you need me to bring water from Konoha to help the farms and their crop?"

The woman stepped up. "I will be helping you bring the water from Konoha. I am Sorano. Nice to see you again, Shikamaru-sama."

"Sorano.." Shikamaru refreshed his memory of her distinctive name.

As he thought about her over and over again, he didn't notice a little girl come into the room and pull his ponytail holder out of his hair.

"Give Shikamaru his hair band back, Yuzuki!" Sorano commanded.

Yuzuki stuck her tongue out at Sorano and ran over to Gaara. "Hi, Kazekage-sama," she tried to say seductively.

Gaara looked blankly at her. "Hello, Yuzuki. How are you today?"

"I'm excellent, now that I got to see you, Kazekage-sama."

"That's nice, Yuzuki. What are you planning on doing today after you go to the academy?"

"Coming to see you, of course!"

"Well, in that case, can you go get me some more tea? I'm so thirsty after doing all that paperwork."

"Do it yourself, lazy-kage! Hmph! I'm not your servant!" Yuzuki stomped away from Gaara's desk, handed Shikamaru's ponytail holder to Sorano quickly, and walked out of the office.

"I guess it's that time of the month again. Gosh, I get that enough from Temari."

"Gaara!" Sorano gave him a scolding look.

"What?" Gaara said innocently.

"You're retarded."

"How dare you call me retarded? I am your kage. You should respect me."

"I do respect you. I respect that you are retarded." Sorano put a giant smile on her face.

Gaara growled under his breath.

"Hm? What was that, Gaara-sama?"

"Nothing. Get to your mission now. It'll take you all day."

"Okay. Bye, Husband. C'mon, Shikamaru-sama." Sorano turned to Shikamaru, grabbed his arm, and ran out of the door.

Sorano and Shikamaru walked back to Konoha together, reminiscing about their past and thoughts of each other over time.

"I've missed you ever since the day you left me," Shikamaru explained.

"Me too. I still wonder if we could ever have that spark again," Sorano said, appealing to Shikamaru's thoughts.

"But I thought you were married to Gaara."

"Married? To GAARA?" Sorano laughed. "I'm not married to Gaara. He's not really my husband and I'm not really his wife. Its an inside joke between us because we are best friends. We aren't married," Sorano explained, suppressing a laugh.

"Really?"

"Yes. I love Gaara as my friend but not like you think I do. I am in love with someone else."

"Who's the jerk? I'll kill him."

"You're gonna kill yourself?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, look. Here we are. Konoha." Sorano started walking faster towards the entrance.

"Wait! What do you mean by that!?" Shikamaru yelled as he tried to catch up with her.

After Shikamaru and Sorano entered the village and got the group of three chuunin, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udan, and a jounin, Naruto, to help with the water, they set back out to go all the way back Sunagakure. As all six walked, they talked and chatted.

"Moegi! Its so nice to see you again," Sorano recollected with the, now 14, Moegi.

"Sorano-chan! You look much more beautiful than I remember!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I was talking to Moegi. What did you say?" Sorano asked with a questionable look on her face.

Naruto paused, "Uhm.. never mind."

"You guys, we've got to hurry. We have about an hour till it gets dark and we still have to water the farmer's fields when we get there," Shikamaru tried to advance the group.

"Okay! C'mon you guys! To Sunagakure! Dattebayo!" Naruto leaded on, once again.

Everyone stayed back and watched the idiot march up ahead of them. He went a little ways and then looked back. "Why are you guys lagging behind?"

"Because you aren't the leader of this mission, Naruto-kun!" Sorano strained her voice into the thick foliage. "Shikamaru-sama is!"

Naruto completely turned around to the remaining members of the group. He bowed and said, "I'm sorry, Shikamaru. I should have been more alert and respectable to your leadership."

Sorano was completely surprised at the words coming out of Naruto's mouth.

"That's fine, Naruto," Shikamaru excused.

The group caught back up to Naruto and continued with their long journey. Sorano in awe of Naruto's respectfulness, Naruto in disappointment with himself, Shikamaru none other than lazy, and Moegi, Udan, and Konohamaru in a expectant formation of attack. They were almost to the border of the Fire Country when they came out of nowhere.

"You're dead!" one of the masked strangers yelled.

* * *

So that's Chapter Five.  
I actually haven't written Chapter Six yet.  
So, if you are reading this, you'll have to wait a bit for the next chapter.  
Review..!  
3 


	6. The Real Truth

Hellooo.. So this is my sixth chapter. I actually kind of enjoyed this chapter. Although, I don't really like Shikamaru's attitude in this chapter. It doesn't seem like him. But it'll have to do. Soo..  
Oh, by the way, before you start reading, **imoshinai bunshin no jutsu - invisible clone technique **and **hisen keikei hittou - waterfall penetrating sword**  
Enjoy the chapter..! And review..!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. Except Shikamaru. He's locked up in my closet for playtime later. xD Yeah, not really. I do own Sorano though.

* * *

Chapter Six

Sorano's Battle Techniques

About twenty masked strangers jumped from around the trees, apphrehending Moegi, Konohamaru, and Udan in the process.

Shikamaru was alarmed but tried to remain calm. "You guys are real courageous, seizing the smaller ninja that look like they can't do too much to get away."

"Well, what do you think of this?" One of them went over and grabbed Sorano.

"Let her go," Shikamaru said forcefully.

The strangers smirked at him.

Sorano turned her head to look at the foreigner that grabbed her. She thought for a moment. "_He doesn't look too menacing. If I use my imoshinai bunshin no jutsu and knock the wind out of him from the back causing him to withdraw his hands from my arms to comfort himself. Yeah. I think it'll work as long as I don't underestimate him._"

Shikamaru got into fight position, as did Naruto.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled while nine clones of him appeared and began jumping over the tree limbs towards the enemy.

While Naruto was distracting the guys that captured Moegi, Konohamaru, and Udan, Shikamaru snuck over to the guy that was holding Sorano captive. But before Shikamaru could do anything, he heard Sorano call out, "Imoshinai bunshin no jutsu!" After she said that, he didn't really see anything happen.

Sorano knew all that was going on. Her clone punched the stranger with incredible strength in his spine and he did exactly what she expected him to do. Once he let go of her, she jumped to another limb and faced him. He was struggling to see what just hit him. He couldn't see one thing that would have amazing force like that.

"Confused?" Sorano asked slightly sarcasticly, raising her left eyebrow.

The enemy smirked. "I believe that you should just tell me your attacks. Seeing as you are going to die at sunset."

Sorano turned to look at the setting sun. "You honestly think you can take me down in that short amount of time?" Sorano sat down the large amount of water she had been carrying. She looked him over quickly and saw a waterfall headband on his forehead. "Come on, old man. Let's see what you've got. I've been dying to fight waterfall ninja."

The man smirked her comments off. He got into fight position and did some hand signs. He then yelled, "Hisen keikei ittou!" and pulled out a giant sword that had a transforming blade. It looked exactly like a waterfall. The stranger began to chuckle.

Sorano took a good look at the jutsu and tried to resolve a plan to soil his attacks. "_Okay. Got it._" She did some hand signs. "Imoshinai no jutsu!" She disappeared into thin air.

Shikamaru's mouth gaped open. "_Where'd she go? Wait a second._" He thought back to the first encounter he'd had with her.

* * *

_"Come out of your ninjutsu. Who/What are you and what do you want?" he called out. There was a puff of smoke and then a girl appeared.

* * *

_

"_That's it!_" he thought to himself. "_She's invisible._"

Shikamaru closely watched the invisible moves. There were punches and kicks flying into the man faster than the speed of light itself. Sorano finished him off with a super-powerful flip-kick, followed by the other strangers finished off by the clones of Naruto. Sorano released her jutsu along with Naruto.

"Moegi, Konohamaru, Udan! Are you guys okay?" Sorano ran over to the young chuunin.

They all responded in unison, "Yeah."

Sorano turned to Naruto. "Are you okay? I saw you fighting. You did a wonderful job taking those guys out. Do I need to heal you?"

Naruto looked at Sorano. "No, I'm okay. Those guys were easy to take out."

Shikamaru rushed over to see Sorano's condition. "Sora, are you okay?"

Sorano looked over to Shikamaru. It had been a while since that nickname had come out of anyone's mouth. Only her parents called her "Sora".

"Y-you called me.." Sorano paused. She began to remember her childhood. Tears began to form in her eyes. "..Sora." She balled her fists, put them to her face, and wiped the tears away.

Shikamaru looked at her sympathetically. "I'm not supposed call you that, am I?"

Sorano looked up at Shikamaru. "N-no. It's fine. You can call me that." She looked down at the ground. She felt guily. She lied.

Shikamaru was smarter than that. "Sorano, if you don't want me to call you that, it's fine. I don't have to."

"What I think doesn't matter right now. We have to get this water to Suna."

Shikamaru agreed. He called everyone to get the water that they were carrying.

"Shikamaru, I have a jutsu I can use to make everyone move quicker and only one person would have to carry the water. Also, as we move it will pick up more water," Sorano offered.

"How does this jutsu work?" Shikamaru questioned curiously.

Sorano did some hand signs and a giant bubble appeared in her small hands.

"What..is..THAT?" Shikamaru's eyes and mouth gaped open.

"It's my bubble."

"What is it supposed to do?"

Sorano began to explain what her "bubble" was. "It picks up anything I program it to receive automatically. No matter how heavy it would seem to get, it makes everything extremely light. So, it won't slow anyone down. It will take alot of my original chakra, but I have back-up chakra I can use."

Shikamaru stumbled over one of the branches he was jumping over. He seemed a bit confused. He'd studied the geographical outline of the chakra in the body. There's was no way an average shinobi could have this "back-up chakra". Unless she was a Jinchuuriki. But, that seemed impossible. But, seemingly so, it would explain why she acted so much like Naruto and was such a good friend to Gaara. "Wait, how do you have this sort of 'back-up' chakra, Sorano?"

Sorano finally decided to tell her secret. "Shikamaru..I feel I should tell you. I don't know why, but I somehow know I can trust you."

"Go on," Shikamaru prodded.

"I-I have one of the Bijuu in me."

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Just a reminder. Review. I need to know if anyone wants me to put up a seventh chapter.

See ya later.


	7. Sorano's Past

Here's Chapter Seven..  
I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Any character whatsoever, with the exception of Sorano, is not mine at all.

* * *

Chapter Seven

Sorano's Past

"W-what?" Shikamaru asked, stunned by the comment Sorano said.

"I said that I am one of the Jinchuuriki. I have a Bijuu in me," Sorano said, with a little more confidence.

Shikamaru was speechless. He had no idea what to say except, "Why?"

Sorano felt a little uncomfortable telling Shikamaru this when obviously everyone else was listening in too. Shikamaru noticed this awkwardness and signaled for the others to go ahead of them. Sorano and Shikamaru stopped where they were at.

"Shikamaru.." Sorano really didn't know how to start. "When I was born, I was supposed to have been some sort of princess of my village, which I don't know what it was called because I wasn't there for a long time. One of my family members wanted the throne so, in order to do that, they snuck into my room late at night when I was just a baby and sealed the five-tailed demon dog, Gobi, inside of me. You see, everyone in my village had known about the sealing of Naruto and Gaara and had made it a law that no royal or heir could have something like that inside of them. They had to be 'pure'. If they did, they would no longer be able to rule the village and would be killed. Well, my family member spread the word about the sealing and my parents and I fled before they could get a hold of us. That's how I ended up in Suna. About a year or two after we had settled and I grew up a little, we had been happy living there except for the certain bursts of chakra from the demon would give me. But, one day, I wasn't able to suppress the chakra. The demon seeped out too much and I.. I.." Sorano started to tear up.

"What, Sorano?" Shikamaru said firmly.

"I..I killed them."

"Sorano, who? Who did you kill?"

* * *

FLASHBACK  
(if you are easily grossed out don't read the flashback..minor detail)

"Sora!" Isako called to her husband.

"What?" Sora replied.

"Come here! Sorano's walking!"

Sora jumped up and ran to Isako. He looked at three-year-old Sorano walk towards her favorite toy.

Tears of joy filled the parents' eyes as they watched their only child walk. Sorano then turned around and began walking towards her two loving parents. Suddenly,an orange unsettling chakra developed and began to swirl around the small child. The chakra began to quickly take form of a small dog-like figure, glowing around her.

"S-Sora?" Isako stuttered to her husband.

"I got it, Isako," he said firmly.

Sora went to suppress the demon within the small child, although the demon surpassed Sora's power tenfold. As he got closer, the larger the chakra got. He got out a couple of seals and held them to the growing beast. The chakra jumped back, kicking Sora and sending him into Isako. He stood to his feet and told Isako a plan to corner the small child with a growing beast. They neared the chakra child, and as they were a few inches away, each of the tailes, there were two by this time, smacked both of the towering parents and sliced their bodies in half.

FIN

* * *

"S-Sorano?" Shikamaru waved his hand in front of Sorano's face.

"Hn?..Oh..M-my parents, "Sorano said between a sniffle.

Shikamaru stood in awe. "_Is this a case similar to Gaara's? I mean, he killed his mother. But she killed _both_ of her parents._"

"I-I know you probably don't want to speak to me anymore. I'll just..do my mission and carry this water back to Suna," Sorano said, picking up the bubble filled with water.

"Sorano..why do you always think I look down on you?" Shikamaru said.

Sorano was shocked. She honestly thought Shikamaru was better than her. She had that problem with everyone. It wasn't her fault she had low self-confidence. "Because you are."

Shikamaru didn't understand Sorano. This made entirely no sense in his mind. Was it because she was too confusing? Or was it because he wasn't smart enough to grasp this simple concept? Whatever it was, he had to make a move. Something cunning enough to make her realize she wasn't as lowly categorized as she thought she was. "Sorano," he walked towards her. "I've never thought of myself being any better than you. How could you think that I would _ever_ think that?"

"Shikamaru, you are a jonin and live Konoha, always have lived there. You have both of your parents that love and support you no matter what happens. I, I am a chuunin, who will never amount to anything more than that in the ninja world, and I live in various places in Suna at a time because I can never have enough money to pay rent monthly. I have no idea where I'm originally from and have no one to love me or stick to. I would say my life is a bit more complicated than yours. You have everything you need. Compared to mine, it's ten times better than mine will ever get."

Shikamaru took this into deep thought. "Yes, your life may not be the easiest, but I understand how it could be. Well, I can't _understand_ how it could be but I do have friends that are like you. Naruto over there," he pointed to the running jonin, getting farther and farther away at this time. "He has the nine-tails in him. And Gaara used to have the one-tails, but you are pretty familiar to him, right?"

"I..I guess so." Sorano looked out onto the clearing, standing in the trees that separated them from the sandy desert down below. She looked into the sky and saw the orange, purple, and red clouds clashing together to make something terribly beautiful. "Look at the wonderful sight. Isn't it gorgeous?"

"Mhm.." Shikamaru could think of something more gorgeous at this moment. "_Sorano..you're so much more gorgeous standing in the sunlight. Your long hair caressed into two ponytails loosely tightened at the bottom, your dress slit at the hips and reveals your bandaged legs. This makes me wanna..WHOA..wait a second. What about..INO? Ugh..this is so troublesome. I love Ino, I do, but I am _in _love with Sorano. And how do I know she doesn't have a boyfriend back in Suna? Hm? Well, no matter the cause, I'm not cheating on Ino_-"

Shikamaru's thoughts were interrupted by Sorano pressing her lips up against his. Sorano savored the kiss for a few seconds and then decided she wanted more. She opened her mouth and lightly pressed her tongue against Shikamaru's lips. Shikamaru tried so hard not to grant access, while trying to push her off. He held her by her shoulders and pushed her off.

"Uh..wha-what?" Sorano asked confused.

"Sorano, I..I have a g-girlfriend.." Shikamaru tried to explain.

Those words hit Sorano like a stone to a thin sheet of glass. "Y-you do? Oh. Ugh, I should've known someone like you would already be in love. I'm sorry." Sorano hit herself multiple times on her head, messing up one side of her hair.

Shikamaru felt so guilty. He should've told her and maybe she wouldn't feel this way. He didn't want to cheat on Ino. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I should have."

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have even tried that.._but I really thought that we had something special, Shikamaru. I guess we didn't._"

"_Sorano, I want to tell you I love you like I did back then, and I do, but Ino is my girlfriend. I didn't want to hurt you or Ino,_" Shikamaru wanted to tell Sorano.

"Well, we better get going. Come on, Shikamaru," Sorano wiped the sadness away and put a smile on her face.

Sorano picked up the bubble of water and headed out of the trees and met up with Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. They tried to get to Suna but weren't able to get there before night. They stopped at the nearest town they could find. They stopped at a bath house and checked in, Sorano paying all expenses.

* * *

And I think I'm gonna stop the chapter there.  
The occurances at the bath house will actually occur in the next chapter.  
xDD  
Hope you had funn reading this one!  
I loved the drama..didn't you?  
Heh..  
Reviews are very appreciated! 


	8. Bath House Misfortunes

Hellooo again.  
Welcome to my eighth chapter.  
I really enjoyed writing this one!!  
Everytime I read it, hee.  
Well, I'm not telling you what will happen.

BTW, not sure if anyone knew this, but the _italics_ are the characters thinking. ANY italics, except in the context of talking. Sometimes I don't do, "_Gawsh, these people are nuts,_" Shalen thought. I'll normally just do, "_Hn. I can't believe it. _So how are you today?" Just thought I'd let you know. xDD

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to mwah (moi), sadly. Darn, I really thought I was Masashi Kishimoto-san. Ahh, another day, I guess. Another day. Sorano's mine though. xDD

* * *

Chapter Eight

At the Bath House

Sorano took the bubble and hid it in a safe place because she knew if she brought it near the bath house, it would draw all of the water from the tubs and no one would be able to relax. Meanwhile, Shikamaru, Naruto, Konohamaru, and Udon went to relax in the male baths.

"Naruto, what do you think I should do?" Shikamaru asked.

"About what, dattebayo?" Naruto asked, confused.

"About Sorano and Ino?"

"Well, how long have you known Ino?"

"All of my life."

"And Sorano?"

"Since I was thirteen."

"Which one do you love more?" Udon said after his prolonged silence.

Shikamaru was shocked to hear Udon's voice. "Sorano," he said with no hesitation.

All of them, except Shikamaru, smirked in hearing his quick, but blunt answer. "Figures," they all said simultaneously.

"What do you guys mean?"

"Well, for starters, she's..uhm..mmm..prettier?" Konohamaru tried to explain.

"And she has a great personality that copes with everyone, dattebayo!" Naruto summed up for Konohamaru.

"So, what should I do then?" Shikamaru asked, still not knowing what to do.

"Uhm..break up with Ino, smart one," Udon said, sarcasticly.

"_I don't want to ruin the relationship between Ino and me. She _is_ one of my best friends_. But how do I let Ino down easily?"

"Just tell her that you want to go seperate ways in that relationship but you would still like to be friends with her. Or something similar to that," Udon advised.

"Wow, Naruto, Konohamaru. Udon gives way better advice than you guys."

As they finished talking, Sorano headed back to the bath house. She went to the the tubs wanting total relaxtion and to be free of stress for at least thirty minutes. She was very distracted with thoughts running all through her mind. She entered the changing rooms and stripped herself of all her clothes and walked out to the baths. She looked at the bath and saw four familiar faces. Shikamaru, Naruto, Konohamaru, and Udon were staring at her along with all the other men there.

"Uh..hey guys," Sorano said, trying to play it off.

All the guys, except Shikamaru, Naruto, Konohamaru, and Udon began to swarm around Sorano, swooning as she started to flaunt and flirt. "_Hm..wonder if I can make Shika jealous? I mean, I might as well make the most of it while I can._"

Shikamaru started to get a bit steamed. He sat up and intently watched them all. Naruto and Konohamaru started to get up to join the other guys in talking to Sorano.

"Where are you guys going?" Shikamaru asked, a little irritated at this point.

"Uh..uh.." Naruto and Konohamaru hesitated.

"To tell her to go back to the girl baths, dattebayo?" Naruto questioningly answered.

Shikamaru smirked them off. "Whatever."

Naruto and Konohamaru walked over to the crowd surrounding Sorano. Naruto snuck behind her and whispered in her ear, "Sorano, Shikamaru's getting a little jealous over there."

Sorano turned her head to look at Naruto's big, blue eyes. "Good. I hope he is jealous." She turned back around to continue flirt with the other guys.

"Why, dattebayo?"

"Because.." Sorano couldn't think of why she wanted to make Shikamaru jealous. "I-I really don't know." From being perfectly poised and beautiful, she slumped her back and felt guilty. "God, I feel like a slut." She looked down and saw nothing on her, except for her bandages that were wrapped around her legs up to her waist and she couldn't take them off because she didn't want to put anyone in danger. She honestly thought that this was the female baths before she walked in. She lifted her head up quickly and called out, "Hey, guys! It's time for me to go..I'll see you later," and then winked. She walked quickly towards the changing room and began putting on a robe. She grabbed her clothes and was about to walk out, until someone grabbed her by the arm.

"What was that all about?" There was Shikamaru, staring intently at her with a hint of green in his eyes.

"_Oh, crap. I was hoping he wasn't gonna come after me._" She looked down at the ground. "What'd you think it was?" She said in a low voice.

"What?" Shikamaru lifted her head by her chin to made her look at him.

"Why would you even care?" she jerked her head from his hand.

"_Ugh..what do I say? I can't say that I do care because I know she'll get mixed signals from me. This is such a pain._" Shikamaru crossed his arms across his sparkling, muscular chest. "You're the one trying to make me jealous."

"WHAT? _Me_ trying to make _you_ jealous?" Sorano said with a nervous laugh.

The nervousness showed. "Yeah, with your laugh, I can see right through your act."

Sorano hung her head. "The only reason I came in here was because I.." Sorano started a mumble. "Thought this was the female baths."

"Hm? What did you say? I didn't quite hear you." Apparently Shikamaru was gonna torture her.

"I said I thought this was the girl baths," she said a little louder.

Shikamaru chuckled, "You're a bit off, don't you think?"

"You're the one who made me come in here!"

"Me? How did I make you go to the wrong baths?"

"Because I was thinking about you!" Sorano panted a little. "_Did I just say that out loud? Crap._"

The two stared at each other arousingly. "_No. I can't. I can't give in. Aw, who am I kidding? I really can't do this_." Shikamaru gave up. He runned his open mouth against hers and breathed into it.

Sorano closed her eyes and remembered Ino. "Shikamaru, what about your girlfriend?"

"Hm? Oh. I know."

Sorano stopped Shikamaru's actions. "Shikamaru, I don't want to help you hurt her." Sorano didn't want an innocent girl to get hurt for something she desired. Its bad enough for one person to be hurt. Let alone two. She would just have to wait for Shikamaru. She just hoped that he was really worth waiting for.

"Sorano, you're right. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Let's go back to the room and talk. Okay?"

"Okay." Shikamaru picked up his clothes and they walked back to the hotel room together quietly (don't worry, Shikamaru has a towel on. he's not walking around nakedlol).

"So, how long have you and your girlfriend been going out?" Sorano asked while sitting down on one of the cots on the floor.

"Well, probably about four years," Shikamaru replied, shutting the door and then continued, "After a year, I realized you weren't coming back. And I got lonely."

"I don't blame you. I did too. Its just that no one wanted to ever go out with me. But I don't blame them either."

"I would. I mean, who wouldn't want to go out with you?"

"Every guy in the Hidden Sand Village, I guess. Except Gaara. But I could never say yes to him. It was way too weird."

"I see your point. But I still don't understand why guys would never want to go out with you."

"Here, think of it this way. There's this girl, right? Well she's cute and a ninja. Great, right? Well what if she can't stay in one place at a time but you don't like change. Or this girl never has any money. What if she tries to mooch off of me? Or she doesn't have any money for me to take. A little clearer now?"

"I see now. Well what about Gaara then?"

"Gaara is my friend. He knew I would never do anything like that because he knew me. And I am a lot like him."

"Oh. Okay. So why are your clothes such bright colors?"

Sorano looked at the pile of clothes in the corner of the room consisting of a tornado of purple and orange. "I..I really don't know. I've always had those colors in my wardrobe. I don't know why, but they have."

"Interesting." Shikamaru looked down at Sorano's bandaged legs. "I've always wondered why your legs have been bandaged like that. They have never been unbandaged."

Sorano sighed. Was she really going to reveal this to him? "Well, Shikamaru, remember when I told you about my parents?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, the chakra that formed around me burned and cut my legs," she said while beginning to unwrap her right leg at the bottom. "And now, I have these open cuts that will never heal. But don't get too close or they'll spit out burning chakra."

Shikamaru looked at the oozing cuts and wondered how bad they hurt. "They look like they are very painful."

"Well, I guess they are. I really don't remember because I've had them for a very long time."

Shikamaru winced at the sight of just her calf. It was completely covered with chakra-spitting ulcers. Just then, there was a bump at the door.

Ino began walking towards the town, anticipating the sight of her boyfriend's face. "_I hope I do this right. I don't want to hurt him. But he will end up getting hurt, I suppose. But he'll move on eventually. Now Chouji and I can be together without worry. Well, technically he doesn't know it yet, but he will soon. Once I get back to Konoha, I will break up with Shikamaru. Now, I need to find a place to rest for the night._" Ino headed towards the first bath house she saw. She registered in and got her room number. "_253? I'm gonna go put my stuff up and then go relax in the tubs._" Ino walked up the stairs and to the hallway where her room was. "_Here we are._" Ino opened the door and looked around. There was her cot, a table, and two people on the floor.

"AGH! Who are you people?!" Ino said without realizing who these familiar faces were.

The male of the two looked back at her. "Ino?" he said.

"N-neji? What are you doing here? And Nozomi?" Ino remembered the new shinobi of Konoha, Nozomi, who had long, curly hair that reached her waist, that was pulled back into a half pony-tail. Her hair cascaded down and framed her pretty face perfectly. Ino had always been a bit jealous of her.

"Hi, Ino..what are you doing here?" Nozomi said, ignoring Ino's question.

"I asked you first."

"Uhm.. Neji-san and I were on a mission. And we stopped here for some rest."

"Looked like you stopped here for something _freaky_," Ino said in a mumble.

"Hm?"

"Never mind. But, I thought this was my room." Ino looked back at the number on the door. _1_53. "Oh, I'm sorry for interrrupting you guys." Ino winked at them.

Ino turned out of the room and went back to the stairs.

Knock knock. Shikamaru went to the door and opened it.

It was one of the workers. "Hello, sir. Do you need any extra blankets or pillows?"

"No, thank you," Shikamaru replied bluntly. He closed the door and looked back at Sorano, who was now wrapping her leg back up. He looked down and noticed that he only had a towel around him. "_If Ino were to walk in right now, she wouldn't think this was innocent._"

Sorano stood up walked towards Shikamaru. She was so tempted to wrap her arms around him and tell him that she loved him. "_You know what? I'm gonna do it. I wouldn't care if his girlfriend came in at the exact same time. I am going to do it._"

Ino walked down the hallway.

"Hello, miss," the worker greeted.

"Hello," Ino replied back.

Ino continued walking. "_249, 250, 251, 252...where is 253_?" Ino turned around to see if the worker was still there. He wasn't. She went to 252 to see if the resident could direct her to 253. She knocked on the door.

Sorano creeped up on Shikamaru. She lightly stroked his arm. His loud, but silent thoughts were interrupted by Sorano's hands grazing his abdomen. She hugged him from the side. He was surprised, seeing as she wanted him to be faithful to Ino. He cradled her in his arms, wishing it would last forever.

"I love you, Shikamaru," Sorano finally expressed her feelings. A weight dropped onto her back. "_What is he going to say? Will he reject it? What about his girlfriend? God, am I really this dumb? Why did I do that? Now I know I'm going to regret that._"

"Sorano, I love you too. But you know I don't want to be unfaithful to Ino."

"I know, I know. But I just want you close to me," Sorano squeezed him a little more and pulled him into a full hug. She loved the feeling of her head on his muscular chest. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Shikamaru, not thinking, for once, said, "Come in. It's open."

Ino noticed a familiar voice behind the door. She cracked open the door and peeked in. There was a girl hugging.."**Shikamaru**!!"

"Ino?" Shikamaru and Sorano let go of each other. He knew that this would happen to only him.

"Shikamaru, are you cheating on me? With this.." Ino walked over to Sorano and pinched her robe. "**Trash**?"

"Ino, she isn't trash. She's a really nice person. Someone nicer than you will ever be. _And why am I sticking up for Sorano when Ino is my girlfriend?_"

"Well, Shikamaru, if you really feel that way towards me, why don't we just break up? Seeing as you're already in love with someone else." Ino gave Sorano a dirty look.

"Look, Ibo, or whatever your name is, it wasn't Shikamaru's fault. It was mine, ignoring that he had a girlfriend," Sorano cut in, never-minding the look.

"_Shut up, Saruru. You'll make me lose reason to break up with him. This is making an easy breakup hard._ I don't care. I thought you were bigger than that Shikamaru. I guess not." Ino started to walk out of the room.

"By the way, don't ever think about coming back. I'm pretty sure that **trash** won't be of any use." Ino headed out of the room and went to hers.

Sorano hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru."

"Don't be. She's finally gone. Now we can be together at last." Shikamaru walked towards her and grabbed her hands and held them firmly. "Finally." Shikamaru pulled Sorano into a full hug, him towering over her.

"Finally," Sorano repeated happily.

* * *

The end.  
No more story.  
Haha, just kidding.  
I'm going to continue it.  
Well, depends if you review or not.  
xPP

Until next time.


	9. Good News And Bad News

Hellooo readers..!  
I'm sorry for the prolonged time between my eight and ninth chapter.  
But, here it is, finally..!  
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, has never been mine, and never will be mine. Blah..! I want Naruto now.. Ah, I'm sure Masashi Kishimoto-san writes it better than I do. Sorano's mine though..xDD

* * *

Sorano and Shikamaru both cherished their company and being in each other's arms. Shikamaru wanted to make something official though.

"Sorano.." Shikamaru started.

Sorano lifted her head off of his chest. "Yes?"

"I want to make something official." He took her hands in his. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Sorano smiled at the way he made everything so sweet and innocent. "Yes, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru and Sorano filled with happiness and it filtered into their eyes as tears as Shikamaru cupped Sorano's head in his hands. "I love you so much, Sorano."

"I love you, too. Now kiss me already," Sorano smiled.

Shikamaru chuckled, "Okay." As he was leaning down towards her, he thought, "_This is gonna be the first kiss we share together and there's no pressure, no interruptions, no worries._"

Shikamaru continued to lean down and as his and Sorano's lips were about to touch, Naruto, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi bursted through the door and ran straight into them, knocking them all down onto the floor. Udon landed on Konohamaru, Moegi landed on Shikamaru's leg, and Naruto landed on Sorano.

"Agh!" Konohamaru screamed. "Get off of me, homo!"

Udon blushed a violent red. "Sorry."

Moegi clung to the object below her. She opened one eye to see where she had landed. What she saw was unusual and awkward. "_I-it's so big.._" she thought experimently.

Shikamaru looked down and saw Moegi clinging to his leg and looking up at him with a strange look. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Uhm..you can get off of me now."

Moegi's thoughts were interrupted. "Oh, uh, I'm sorry."

"No problem."

"But, I have one question for you."

Shikamaru hesitated, "..go ahead.."

"Why are you so big?"

Immediately, perverted thoughts filled his mind. "_Uhm.. was that was she was looking at? Why..why was she looking at..that?_ Uhm.. what do you mean?"

"Well, your towel was flipped off of you and I saw-"

"Okay! We can stop talking about that now."

Moegi got up and shrugged it off. Shikamaru turned to watch the argument between Konohamaru and Udon.

Naruto layed his head on something soft. His blue eyes popped open to find he was laying on a person. He brought his sprawled out arms next to the body he was laying on. He felt its curves through his arms. "_Well, girls have curves. So, this must be a girl. And the only girls in this room are Sorano and Moegi. I hope I'm not on top of Moegi, dattebayo!_" He looked up to find it was Sorano.

Sorano looked up at Naruto. "About time you got up. I was starting to think you just liked my boobs."

"Nothing I haven't seen already."

"Oh, that was harsh."

Naruto smiled at Sorano. "I'm just playing with you, Sorano..dattebayo."

"I know." Sorano placed her hand ontop of Naruto's head and began to rub his peculiarly soft, spiky hair. "I love your hair. It's so interesting."

Naruto sat on his knees, still atop Sorano. "Hah. Thank you, I suppose."

Sorano scooted back a little bit, sat up, and looked at him. "Did you hear what I was telling Shikamaru on the way here?"

Naruto searched his mind. "About how you're a Jinchuuriki?"

"Mhm."

"Oh, well, yeah. Until Shikamaru shooed us off, dattebayo," Naruto growled.

"Yeah. I heard you were one too."

"Wait a minute. You're just like me, then."

"What do you mean?"

"That you had to go through a majority of life a loner and rejected, just like I did.."

"Oh, I was treated very badly, yes. Everyone knew something about me was different so they never really liked me. But no one except Gaara knew I was one of the Jinchuuriki. But he didn't find that out until a few years after he met you."

"But you know what kind of pain I suffered, right?"

"Oh, totally. I still suffered just as much by myself before I met Gaara."

"What do you mean 'by yourself'?"

"Well, I didn't have my parents to raise me. I..they were murdered."

"Who murdered them?"

"I-I did."

"You did? Dattebayo..that must be really hard on you."

"Yeah..y'know. You're a really nice friend to talk to. Can I trust you with my secret though?"

"Of course, dattebayo!"

"Good, because other then me, only three people know."

"Who?"

"You, Gaara, and Shikamaru. Wow, that was dumb. I just practically said that when I was explaining."

"Hey! I'm not dumb. I'm mentally challenged."

Sorano and Naruto laughed and continued to talk about themselves more while Konohamaru and Udon bickered, Moegi was fascinated with a bird, and Shikamaru stepped outside to find where his robe magically disappeared to.

"_Okay, I need to go get a robe. I thought I brought one with me though_," Shikamaru thought as he closed the door behind him. He looked up and around the hall and saw Ino balled up in a corner and, what seemed to be, crying. "Ino?" he loathly called to her.

Ino slowly looked up to see Shikamaru standing there in his towel. "Shika?" she asked, surprised to see him out here.

"Listen, Ino, I wasn't cheating on you with Sorano. It was an innocent hug that you walked in on. I will admit that we kissed earlier today. I was ashamed of it, very much. And, I am not in love with you. I have always been in love with Sorano. She's the only person I've ever been in love with. I do, in fact, love you. And I still want to be your friend. I don't know why you're crying though. And I'm probably too inconsiderate to ask."

With red, puffy eyes, Ino looked up at him. "Shika..? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you think Chouji will ever like me?"

Shikamaru thought she was crying over him..apparently he was so wrong. "Uh..yeah. I'm sure he would."

Ino got up and wiped her sadness away with a smile. "Thanks, Shika!" She walked into her room as if nothing happened.

Shikamaru stood there confused. "_So she liked Chouji all this time_?"

"Shikamaru?" Sorano came out of their room and lightly touched Shikamaru's shoulder.

"Hm?" he turned to face her.

"Have you gone to get your robe yet?"

"No."

"Can I come with you, then?"

"Sure.." Shikamaru and Sorano walked down the stairs to the ground level of the bath house. "So..what were you and Naruto talking about?"

Sorano looked at him. "_Do I smell a hint of..jealousy_? Oh, nothing. Why do you ask?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I kinda got a tad worried with him sitting there on top of you."

"_Haha..jackpot_. Well, Shikamaru, I was only telling him about the Bijuu. And it wasn't his fault he landed on me." Sorano got closer to Shikamaru. "Don't be so jealous, Shikamaru."

"I'm not jealous. I was just..wondering."

"C'mon, Shikamaru. We both know you're jealous." Sorano crossed her arms.

"I'm not jealous." Shikamaru began to defend his state of being a little less lazily.

"_But he _is_ jealous. Why won't he admit it?_ Shikamaru- never mind. I won't keep it going." Sorano grabbed Shikamaru's hand and began to rub it gently.

"Your hands are cold, Sora. What are you doing, anyway?"

"I'm just rubbing your hand, that's all." Sorano laced her fingers with his. "I'll stop if you want."

"Can you keep your hand where it is?"

Sorano smiled. "Sure."

Shikamaru and Sorano held onto each other's hand like their life depended on it. They didn't want to let go.

"Oh, I see my robe." Shikamaru released Sorano's hand reluctantly and walked over to a robe laying in the middle of the hallway. He picked up the lonely piece of fabric. "Let's go back up to the room, all right?"

"Okay." Sorano darted up the stairs faster than the speed of light.

"Hey! Wait for me, Sorano! Ugh..what a drag." Shikamaru sprinted up the steps after her. He turned the corner and saw a blazing light coming from one of the rooms. There was no sign of any human life in the hall. He neared the glowing, blue light. "_What is that? Where is Sorano? What if something happened to her_?"

Shikamaru walked closer to the light. He peered into the brightness. He couldn't see one thing. He stepped forward, forgetting to brace himself for anything to happen. He stepped into nothing and began falling into the brightness. Once realizing where he was, outside of the bath house, he grabbed onto one of the ledges that had been broken off. He regained his composure and looked down onto a deep, giant hole. He saw large footprints in the hole in the sand.

"_Is that from a summoned..monster? Does that mean..Sorano was kidnapped_?"

* * *

Well, 'tis the end.  
I hope you liked it.  
I'll post my next chapter somewhat soon.  
Hopefully, ten days is my deadline.  
Happy Spring lol..!


	10. The Kidnapping in Sorano's POV

Well, here's the tenth chapter.  
I'm sorry I didn't finish is within ten days.  
I was trying to figure out what to do.  
But, yeahh..  
Here ya go!

This whole chapter is in Sorano's POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto owns it blahblahblah. And I own Sorano.

* * *

I peered into sheer darkness. "_What is this place? Wh-where am I? Where's Shikamaru_?" I began to feel my surroundings. I was in some sort of bag.

"Help!" I called out, kicking the bag in desperation.

"Shut up," I heard a deep voice say before I had pain and pressure forced to my head.

I lifted my hand to my head where the pain was and pulled it away. It was slightly wet. The darkness became lonely and cold. I fainted.

I awoke to darkness, once again. Only this time, I wasn't in a bag. I was in a cave. A sharp pain went directly to my head. "_Ow. Where is this place? Who's that over there_?" I saw two figures standing close to, what looked like, the entrance to the cave.

"Where are the others, danna?" one voice said.

"They should be on their way, Zetsu," another voice said.

"They need to hurry before she wakes up."

"_Too late_," I thought. "_Wait..the name 'Zetsu' sounds familiar._ Akatsuki!"

The two looked to where the word came from, which was directly at me.

"Well, it looks like we might have to do this a little more quickly," the man that looked human said. "We finally found the last Jinchuuriki."

The one called "Zetsu" just stared at me simpathetically. They began to walk toward me. I rolled onto my stomach and tried to sit up on my knees. I started to get dizzy. Gravity and dizziness collided into me and I fell back down. "_I'm hopeless. No. I can't be. Shikamaru can't come for me. I have to fend for myself. I don't know what these guys want with me, but I know they want something._" I let out tears of frusteration, anger, and sadness. "What do you want with me? W-where am I?"

"Since you won't be alive much longer, I guess we can tell you. We are from the Akatsuki. I am Tobi, the now leader of the Akatsuki. He is Zetsu. We have captured you for your Bijuu. As soon as the other members get here, we will extract it out of you. There is a one percent chance you will survive it. All other containers of Bijuu have died in this process so you most likely will die too," Tobi said, coming even closer to me.

I looked up at him. He had a weird, orange mask on, hiding his face, except for one eyehole. I then looked at Zetsu. He had large, what looked like, jaws coming out of his shoulders, like they were going to eat him. But, behind them, there was a human-looking figure, and besides the fact that he was black _and_ white, he looked..kind of..cute. "_WHOA!! I can NOT be thinking that! I have Shikamaru. And Zetsu is a member of freakin' AKATSUKI!!_"

Zetsu remained quiet the whole time Tobi talked to me. I longed to hear his voice though. Tobi walked away and Zetsu remained there, towering over me.

"What is your name?" he finally said.

"Uh-uhm..Sorano.." I hesitated.

"What a pretty name (A/N: insert "fire" instead of "name"lol -Howl's Moving Castle-)."

"Th-thank you..but shouldn't you be treating me like I'm worth nothing?"

"Well, I guess. But, I'm not really used to that sort of thing 'cause I never get to do this type of thing."

"Oh. Well, thank you for being nice to me."

"No problem."

Suddenly, three transparent figures appeared. "_What are those chakras? They seem very powerful.. Wait! I know how to get out of this! I'll use my hidden jutsu._"

Zetsu looked into my eyes. He could see my fear and panic. He outstrenched his hand and asked for mine. "You'll be fine. It's okay. I'm gonna get you out of here." He helped me up. "Once you're out, run. I'll follow you for a while and then I'll have to leave so they won't suspect I let you out. Come with me."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and then we went underground and appeared on the outside of the cave. "Now, run, Sorano."

"Thank you, Zetsu." I said, happily. I began to run the fastest I could. "_Shikamaru..! I'm coming. Coming.._" Tears of happiness started to fall down my cheeks. I couldn't wait to see him.

Suddenly, Zetsu grabbed me. I began to panic a little. "There's someone following us." He did a jutsu to make us blend in with the environment. There was a figure coming through the foliage.

"Sora! Sora! Where are you?" a familiar voice called.

"Shikamaru..?!" I said unintentionally.

Zetsu covered my mouth with his hand. "No..! Shh!!"

The figure walked towards us. "Sorano? Where..are..you?" the voice began to get distorted.

I remembered the blow to my head. The blood was still gushing. I fainted.

"_Loss of blood. Great. I fainted. Right when it mattered. What are Zetsu and Shikamaru gonna do? What's Shikamaru gonna think?_"

The light shined onto my closed eyes. "_Ugh..my head. It hurts so much._" I opened one of my eyes. I saw clouds and blue sky. I shot up. "Shikamaru? Zetsu?" I was sitting in a small meadow. "W-where am I?" I got up from the hard ground. "Zetsu! Shikamaru!" I looked over to a tree. I saw two figures moving. I started to walk over to them. "_I have to be quiet. I don't know if these people are good. I don't even know if these objects _are_ people._"

I was almost to the tree now. I saw an Akatsuki cloak and a jonin Konoha ninja vest. Shikamaru had pinned Zetsu up against the tree and held a kunai to his throat. "Shikamaru! Zetsu! Stop!" I ran over to them and tried to stop the fight that was taking place.

"Sorano! Stop trying to interfere. You're going to end up hurt," Shikamaru tried to coax me away.

"Shikamaru! He was trying to help me get away from the other Akatsuki! So, I wouldn't be killed!" I yelled at him, tears starting to fill my eyes.

"Yeah..! What she said!" Zetsu agreed.

"Shikamaru! He means entirely no harm to any one of us!" I said, still trying to convince Shikamaru.

"No, he isn't, Sorano! He's just fooling you like all of the other Akatsuki," Shikamaru said trying to preserve his idea of the matter.

"You're wrong, Shikamaru! He isn't. His eyes tell the truth and he means good. He's just in a bad situation," I said.

Shikamaru looked as if he was thinking about the words I said. He looked at Zetsu's eyes. Those yellow balls were like tiny suns. But, they told the truth. There was no harm from him. Shikamaru pulled the kunai away from Zetsu's throat. "Okay. I'll stop for now. But, I'm keeping an eye on you."

I looked them both over. Shikamaru was fine. he has a couple of scratches where Zetsu and him had tassled, but nothing to worry over. Zetsu had a huge gash in his arm, visible through his cloak.

"Zetsu..that doesn't look very good. Can I heal that?" I asked.

"You're a medical ninja?" Zetsu looked surprised.

"Yeah.."

"I'm glad I rescued you before they killed you. You're really something special."

I looked at Shikamaru's face. He looked jealous, and right now, I didn't want that. All I wanted to do was to cuddle up with him and go to sleep. "Yeah." I didn't want to lead him on anymore.

I did a hand signal to gather chakra. I put my hands to Zetsu's arm and the orange chakra came flowing out. It came out a little too much. The chakra began to take over my body. "_No! Not again! That damned, weak sealing! I can't let it out with these two here. But..but..it's too much._"

The chakra surrounded me. Shikamaru tried to back away. Zetsu didn't know what to do. The chakra built and built until there were all five tails. Dog-like ears formed on top of my head and whiskers sprouted from my face. "Run!" my voice came out distorted and scary.

I charged directly towards them.

* * *

Hehe.  
Sorry about the cliffhanger.  
Next chapter will be all in Shikamaru's POV.  
Starting form the ninth chapter.  
And in chapter twelve I'll resume the story.  
I'm sorry about the small delay.

Bye, loves..!


	11. The Kidnapping in Shikamaru's POV

Hihi!!  
I'm sosososososososo sorry I made you readers wait soooo long!  
But, there's good news!  
The new chapter is finally posted!  
I'm sorry, I didn't feel very into this chapter until the end.  
And don't mind my other OC, Nozomi. (SHE LOVES NEJI)  
Aha..  
Well, enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Period. In this story, I own the plot, Sorano, and Nozomi. That's it.

* * *

I dangled there on the ledge of the floor that had been freshly torn away. I looked into the dark abyss below me. I began to get woozy, seeing as I wasn't too fond of hanging on a ledge and looking down into a deep hole, _especially_ in a towel. I began to lift myself back up into the hallway. Troublesome enough, I had to actually use energy to lift myself.

"Ugh..what a drag.." I let out, quietly.

"What's a drag?" I heard a soft, womanly voice call out.

I looked to where the voice came from. There was a petite, young woman standing in front of the gaping hole in the wall.

"Nozomi. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm here with Neji. We were on a mission and we're getting ready to leave. He's still in the room getting ready. I was just about to go pay the check," she said.

"Oh. _Do I really want to tell her about my affairs? Eh, might as well. _Well, I can't leave yet. My partner just got kidnapped, and I have to go after her, cause that's what a guy does. I mean, she's probably weak compared to Akatsuki."

"I don't know. I wouldn't underestimate her. I mean, I don't know her, but, she could turn out to be greater than you know."

"Hah. I guess."

"Hey, Nozomi," a familiar voice called out. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Neji," I said.

"Shikamaru..!" he seemed surprised and he quickly pulled his hands from her sides.

I chuckled, "I guess I must have startled you."

"Heh..I guess you did," he said, nervously.

"_He must not be a real 'public display of affection' kind of person. _Well, honestly, I must be going. I have things to take care of, places to go, people to see," I began to walk away.

"Wait..Shikamaru," Nozomi said.

"Yeah..?"

"Can we help with getting your partner back?" she asked, not consulting Neji.

"Huh?" Neji retorted. "We have to get back and give the reports for our mission."

"It can wait a bit, can't it?" Nozomi began to use her girlish charm on him.

"Well, I have to know now, if you guys are gonna go or not. I need to stay on the kidnapper's trail," I said, trying to hurry them along.

"Kidnapper?" Neji knew nothing of what happened.

"I'll tell you once we're on our way," Nozomi said.

"Okay. I need to go change first and tell my other partners where I'm going. You guys stay here," I said, beginning to start back to my room.

"Okay," they both said.

"But, Shikamaru.." Neji continued.

"I have to hurry."

"But.."

I turned the corner before he could finish. I walked back to our room. Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon were all there, safe and sound, and, surprisingly, Naruto had them all under control.

"Hey, guys," I said.

They all looked at me, surprised and wide-eyed.

"Shikamaru..!" Naruto whispered to me. "Come here."

Naruto walked me back out into the hallway.

"What?" I asked.

"Look down," he said.

I looked down. To my surprise, my towel had fallen off of my waist. "_Why does this always have to happen to me?_" I didn't care at that point so I just calmly pulled my robe over me. "Oh, well. It doesn't matter now. Sorano's been kidnapped. I'm going after her."

I brushed past Naruto into the room towards my clothes. Naruto walked back into the room.

"Wait. What?" he questioned surprisingly.

"I said that Sorano has been kidnapped, most likely, by the Akatsuki," I said, while pulling my undergarments and pants on under my robe.

Everyone looked at me, even more surprised and wide-eyed than the last time.

"Sorano's been kidnapped?..Oh no!..That's not good.." Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon all said, overlapping each other.

"Yes. She's been kidnapped. I'm goingwith Neji and Nozomi to save her."

"Neji and Nozomi are here?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. They said something about being on a mission and whatnot."

"Oh. Well, I'm coming too." Naruto put his hands on his hips and stood firmly.

"You can't. You have to carry on the mission to Suna. Sorano hid her water bubble a few yards east of the front door of the bath house. The only who will be able to carry it is, you, Naruto."

"Me? Why?"

"You have the same type of chakra as Sorano. Yours and hers are both wind-aligned, so only you can carry it. We'll hopefully meet up with you in Suna. Good luck, Naruto. You're the new leader. Make the Hokage proud." I zipped up my jonin vest and jumped out of the open window. I jumped back into the hole in the wall to Nozomi and Neji. "You guys," I started.

"Yeah," Neji and Nozomi said in unison, both suggesting I go on.

"We are going to need to think of an attack plan."

Neither of them said a word.

"Seeing as you have no ideas, I'll have to think of one as we're following the way the kidnappers went."

"Fine with me," Nozomi said.

"Fine," Neji said.

"Okay. We're off."

We jumped out of the hole in the wall and into the hole below us. My foot touched the first layer of dirt on the hole and, suddenly, the earth there exploded.

The smoke cleared away a few minutes later. I found I actually bounced back onto the ledge from the blow. I looked down to find Nozomi clinging to Neji for dear life while he was bearing hers and his weight on a twig sticking out of the caved in wall. I walked over to the edge they were on and held my hands out to them.

"Here. Grab a hold of my hand," I said.

Nozomi climbed up Neji and grabbed both of my hands. I pulled her up to ground level. As I made sure she was safe, the small branch began to uproot and it made Neji lose his balance. He slipped a bit at first, but, then, he wouldn't, no, _couldn't_, stop. I slid to the ground to try to save him, but it was too late. He fell to his death below. Because of the first bomb, I was expecting that they had most likely planted even more. Neji confirmed my suspicions by hitting every single bomb planted in the walls.

"Neji!" Nozomi cried out.

I looked at the tears streaming down her face. I thought for a minute and dived into the hole. The smoke from the bombs was thick, so thick, in fact, that one couldn't see even their own arms and legs. I kept travelling down though.

"_When does this tunnel end? I need to hurry and rescue Neji so I can get Sorano back before she's killed_," my thoughts circled around my head.

I clung to a side of the tunnel. I needed to rest for a minute. The smoke was obviously getting to me. It reminded me of when Asuma died, and when I went through that smoking stage. I knew smoking would have bad effects on my body, but I had to get over his death somehow. Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned and saw Nozomi.

"You go after your partner, Shikamaru. I'll help Neji," she said.

"No, that's oka-" she cut me off.

"No. You go after your partner. I'll help Neji and depending on if he's hurt or not, I'll leave him here at the bath house and come find you. If he's okay, I'll bring him with me. Okay?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Now, so I can know where to find you, I'll have to give you something."

Nozomi made a hand signal and called out, "Chakra nagaoi no jutsu."

Nozomi's chakra flowed from her body onto me.

"What is this?" I asked.

"I'm using my chakra to track you," she explained. "There is now a chakra string attached to you that only I can see and sense."

I nodded my head as a goodbye and good luck. I zoomed out of the hole and left her to perform her duties as Neji's partner. My feet touched the ground above the giant gash in the earth. I looked into it and thought, "_I hope she'll be okay_."

I followed the tunnel underneath me, feeling the empty ground through my feet. I wondered how I was going to be able to find Sorano. Then, I remembered the tracking devices I had placed on all of my partners. I pulled the tracker out of my pocket and looked at the five red dots. Four of them were heading towards the west, deepening into the Wind Country. The lonely red dot was going east, back into the Fire Country. I began to follow the red dot and I realized it was straying from the tunnel. Was the tunnel a trap? Or did the kidnappers find my hidden tracking device and place it somewhere else? Seeing as I was dealing with the Akatsuki, I decided to trust my technology first. I ran as fast as I could across the vast desert. I felt weakness creeping onto my body from deprivation of water. I wouldn't stop for water. Well, it was more like I _wasn't able _to stop. My legs decided on their own to carry me to Sorano's location.

I entered the deep foliage in the Fire Country. I began to get nearer and nearer. I got butterflies just thinking of her. I thought it was funny the way she made me feel and act, in ways I would have never acted around anyone else. She was different. I ran faster upon thinking about holding her close in my arms and knowing that she was safe. "_What's wrong with me? Why am I thinking this way_?" I didn't know how, but she made feel me energetic and lively. I felt..happy.

Suddenly, my tracker began to beep slowly, which meant I was getting close to her. I was so excited, I couldn't watch my mouth.

"Sorano! Where are you?" I called out, totally not thinking.

No response came, as I ran into a gully-like riverbed. I didn't know what happened here, but it looked very familiar. I ignored it and continued looking for Sorano.

"Sora! Sora! Where are you?" I called. The tracker started beeping faster.

"Shikamaru..?!" a voice called back.

I became overjoyed. I ran towards the voice.

"Sorano? Where are you?" I asked.

I quietly looked around and saw a figure disappear. I ran to the rock wall to try to stop it, but I was too late. I looked around and went up a hill, most likely the shoreline of the river, to a giant clearing. I saw flowers everywhere. It was so beautiful. The vivid colors exposed to my dull eyes. I mean, green is such a conventional color when you have to see it every single day. There were reds, yellows, purples, blues, and, even, oranges mixing together to make a concoction too gorgeous for one to look at.

I noticed in the distance a black, red, and green figure moving along the flowers. It looked like the figure I had seen earlier. I noted colors of purple and orange in its arms. I saw a dark blue mixed among all of the colors and then realized it was Sorano. I ran through the array of colors towards the Akatsuki member. He apparently was, now that the clouds on his cloak were coming into view.

I must have been making a racket in the flowers because he suddenly turned around. I quickly ducked beneath the flowers, unaware if he had seen me or not. I peered above the flowers and didn't see him there anymore. I shot up and tried to see if he had hid also. I began to turn to see if he went back and there he was, standing there, right behind me. I don't know what he did with Sorano, but she wasn't in his arms anymore.

Suddenly, he pulled out a kunai and held it to my throat. He said to me, "Who are you and what do you want?"

"How am I supposed to speak to you with a kunai to my throat?!" I yelled. I was not about to tell an S-rank criminal who I was or what business I had with Sorano.

I put my hand behind my back. I began to pull a kunai out of my pouch. I could have tried to hit him first so it would distract him long enough to go get Sorano, but I didn't know how fast or how powerful he really was. I pulled my arm back into the air and started to let my kunai go until giant tree roots came up and grabbed my arm and held my entire body to a larger root so I couldn't get out.

The Akatsuki member pulled the kunai away from my throat and said, "Now. Tell me who you are."

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you who I am?"

The branches around my body started getting tighter and tighter. "Tell me now or I'll make them crush you."

"And then can we eat him for dinner?" another voice said.

"Yes. Yes, we can," the Akatsuki member replied.

I began to panic. "My name is Shikamaru. I'm a jonin from Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves. Sorano is my partner on a mission I was assigned by the Kazekage of Sunagakure. Now, who are you?"

"Hm. Why were you assigned a mission from the Kazekage when you are from Konohagakure, not Sunagakure?"

"Is that information really necessary for you to know?"

"Hm. I guess not."

"Now, answer my question."

"You don't have to be so pushy. I'm Zetsu. A member of the Akatsuki."

The branches tying me to the tree began to loosen up. They let me completely go and I jumped down at the bottom of the tree. "Hmph. I've got you were I want you. Kagemane no jutsu!"

My jutsu trapped him. I jumped at him and slashed his arm open. I then turned him around and pinned him up against the tree. Just then, from a distance, Sorano's voice rang out, "Zetsu! Shikamaru!"

She ran faster and faster. She saw that I had Zetsu pinned against the tree and yelled, "Shikamaru! Zetsu! Stop!"

She gnawed at my hand to pull the kunai away from his throat. "Sorano! Stop trying to interfere. You're going to end up hurt," I said, coaxing her away.

"Shikamaru! He was trying to help me get away from the other Akatsuki! So, I wouldn't be killed!" tears were beginning to fill her eyes.

"Yeah..! What she said!" Zetsu chimed in.

"Shikamaru! He means entirely no harm to any one of us!" Sorano said, still trying to convince me.

"No, he isn't, Sorano! He's just fooling you like all of the other Akatsuki," I said, sticking to my wit.

"You're wrong, Shikamaru! He isn't. His eyes tell the truth and he means good. He's just in a bad situation."

I comprehended everything she said and looked at Zetsu's eyes. They were big, round orbs. They almost seemed a bit creepy. But, surprisingly, they did speak truth. I pulled the kunai from his throat. "Okay. I'll stop for now. But, I'm keeping an eye on you."

I stepped away from him and looked at Sorano. She was apparently looking us over and looking at the damage we did to each other. She especially noticed the gash in Zetsu's arm.

"Zetsu..that doesn't look very good. Can I heal that?" she asked.

"You're a medical ninja?" he seemed surprised.

"Yeah.."

"I'm glad I rescued you before they killed you. You're really something special."

Okay, he surely crossed the line. I sent him an evil glare.

"Yeah."

Sorano didn't seem to flattered, surprisingly. She's a very flirty girl. She did a hand signal to gather chakra and her orange chakra flowed out over Zetsu's wound. It began to get out of control. She stepped away from Zetsu. The chakra spread everywhere on her body. It spread until it covered her completely. I began to back away and poor Zetsu didn't know what was happening. All five tails formed, along with dog-like ears, and whiskers sprouted onto her face.

"Run!" a distorted, freaky voice came out of her.

She charged straight for us.

* * *

Haha..  
Da dun!  
I'm so sorry, once again, for making you guys wait this long.  
I hope I can get the next one up earlier than I did with this one.  
Well, I hope you had an awesome time reading this.  
Thanks so much!  
Reviews are appreciated..!

See yaa..


	12. The Beast Within

**Heyy, heyy, fans!  
Not like there are any, but, oh, well.  
Here's the twelveth chapter for yaa..  
Sorry, if I took a little too long to post up.  
I kinda got a late start on this 'cause I was a bit busy..  
With summer affairs and whatnot.  
But, here it is, finally..!**

**Disclaimer: (c) Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing except Sorano and Nozomi. And, the plot, of course.**

* * *

Shikamaru ran in fear as Sorano bounded towards him, while Zetsu remained on the ground in utter confusion.

"Zetsu! RUN!!" Shikamaru yelled to the top of his lungs.

Zetsu scrambled to his feet and began to run after Shikamaru, with Sorano, fully demon now, chasing them and gaining speed with every second.

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Meanwhile, back at the bath house, there was little Nozomi pulling the unconscious Neji up the stairs.

"_Man_," Nozomi paused her thoughts and actions to wipe a sweat drop from her brow. "_Why is he so heavy?_"

She pulled Neji up the stairs and down the hall to the room Shikamaru's team was staying in. Nozomi bursted through the door to find them all sitting there, worrying about Sorano.

"You guys!" Nozomi yelled.

Naruto looked up. "What, Nozomi? Wait, didn't you go with Shikamaru?"

"I was going to but, Neji had an accident. I can't explain now. Look at the ground! Do you not see him lying here unconscious?"

"Well, yes, but, what are we supposed to do about it?"

"Does someone know how to heal him?"

Moegi looked up. "I've been training under Sakura and Sorano's been showing me a thing or two, here and there. I'll give it a shot."

"But.. what if it doesn't work?" Konohamaru asked negatively.

"Don't bring me down, Konohamaru, and it will work. Now, I need complete silence. Shh.." Moegi put her finger to her lips.

She made a hand signal and began summoning chakra. "Urghh..!" she cried out.

Nozomi turned Neji over and pulled him closer to Moegi. She put each of her hands ontop of Neji's chest. That familiar, creepy, green aura surrounded both of her hands. After she had begun to heal longer than usually needed, she began to worry. Neji was still laying there, unconscious.

"Nozomi.." Moegi started.

"Yeah..?" Nozomi replied.

"Okay, I know I'm not the best medical ninja out there, but, what I do know is that there is something terribly wrong with Neji. I've healed longer than needed and he's still not conscious. We're gonna have to take him to a hospital."

"I can't do it right now. I have to go and aid Shikamaru. Neji means alot to me, but if I don't go, more people will die other than just him. You guys can take care of him while I'm gone, can't you?"

"Sure, I guess. At least, we'll try," Naruto said.

"Thank you so much, Naruto. I am so grateful," Nozomi said, while quickly bowing.

Nozomi then sped out of the room and out of the hole in the wall. She followed the invisible string of chakra past the path the tunnel was taking, through the forest, and into a deserted riverbed. As she neared the clearing, she saw a weird, orange chakra, only familiar to her through Naruto. She had remembered the times he had been taken over by the Kyuubi and her uncle, Yamato, was the only one who could repress it back. She learned from her uncle the art to repress demons like that.

"_But, this isn't Naruto_," she thought. "_He's back at the bath house. So, who is this, then_?"

Nozomi continued walking up the shore into the flowers. She noticed two people running from the chakra and saw one wearing an Akatsuki cloak and the other wearing a jonin vest. She immediately knew the one in the vest was Shikamaru. The other one looked like a moving plant wearing a coat. But, she knew what she had to do. She quickly pulled out a seal to repress the demon. She began to try to make contact with Shikamaru and try to tell him to distract the beast. She waved and wobbled and did everything in her power to try to get him to notice her. He finally looked at her and she started yelling at him to distract the demon. He understood and told Zetsu to do the same. They both began to distract the orange beast. Nozomi ran up behind the diverted brute, did a few hand signs, and forced the seal onto its back. Suddenly, the half-dog, half-human beast stopped and began to turn around to face Nozomi. She could tell it was getting weaker, but not weak enough. One tail started to disintegrate. The beast put on a devilish smile and arrowed its eyes at Nozomi.

"Nozomi! Run!" Shikamaru yelled.

Nozomi looked in fear at the snarling beast. She backed up a little and began to run for her dear life. "_Oh, crap! How am I gonna get this beast off of my tail? Wait a minute, Yamato taught me, one chakra seal per tail. Aw, man, I am so dumb. Okay, so, I've used one, one tail has been deteriorated. So, that should leave me.. about nine more chakra seals. Okay, so, one down four to go_."

Nozomi pulled out four chakra seals. She quickly thought and ran to a tree, and she transported herself to the top. The monster was delirious not even for a little bit. It quickly began chopping at the tree, which was what Nozomi wanted. The tree began to tip and sway and as it was about to fall, Nozomi used her speed to put all four of the chakra seals onto the beast. The beast stopped and the tails looked as if they were crumbling. Sorano's whiskers and "dog" look began to disappear and her normal look came to surface. Nozomi hopped off of her and stepped back. As Sorano began to fall forward, Nozomi ran to catch the unconscious girl.

"Nozomi.." Shikamaru said, while he and Zetsu came over to her and Sorano. "Give her to me."

Nozomi lifted Sorano up to Shikamaru's arms. He cradled the motionless body in a bridal style way of holding. The scratches on her body and face looked painful. Just seeing her like this made him want to cry. She was a very unhappy person, he could tell. There were things he didn't even know about her, but it made him want to protect her from all of the evils that surrounded her, but he knew he couldn't.

Suddenly, Sorano began to move slightly. She opened her eyes to see Shikamaru looking down on her. She wiggled out of his arms and realized what she had almost done. She had almost killed Shikamaru, Zetsu, and someone she didn't even know. She backed away from them all. Fearing that chakra might leak out again, she began to run. Run as far away as she could from the people that had helped her. Was she really gonna let the faulty sealing of a demon repay those that have helped her like that? She could hear Shikamaru calling her name, but she didn't want to stop. She couldn't stop. She knew that if she did, over time, he would end up getting hurt by the monster inside of her. Suddenly, she realized she couldn't run anymore. She stopped and fell to her knees. The tears she had been crying for her loved ones had finally came out. She fell face first into the flowers.

Just then, Shikamaru, Zetsu, and Nozomi all ran to her.

"Help me get her up," Shikamaru said to the both of them.

They rolled Sorano over on her backside. She had mud all over her face as the result from the mixture of dirt and tears. Sorano sat up and put her hands over her face to hide the, what she called, ugliness.

Shikamaru kneeled down beside her. "Sorano? Are you okay?" He put his hand on hers and began to remove it from her face.

Sorano was silent for a little bit. "Shikamaru?" she questioned after a while.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

Shikamaru was stunned. None of this was her fault. "Sorano, you don't have anything to be sorry for."

"Yes, Shikamaru, I do. I'm sorry for putting you through this. I don't deserve the kindness that you give me. All of the sacrifices you have made for me, I don't and never will deserve it." Sorano turned to look at Zetsu and Nozomi. "You too, Zetsu. And you, whom I do not know the name of."

"Nozomi," Nozomi said.

"Well, thank you so much, Nozomi, for saving Shikamaru's, Zetsu's, and possibly my life. You're a hero."

"No, I'm not. I was just doing what I was taught to do. Nothing special."

"Maybe not in your eyes. But to me, you've just saved three lives."

Nozomi bowed her head in a humbled state. She wasn't really a "cocky" kind of girl. Also, she didn't really take compliments too well.

Shikamaru looked at Sorano's mud-splotched face. He took her head in his hands and wiped the almost dried mud from her pretty profile. "There," he said. "All clean."

Sorano looked into Shikamaru's coal-colored eyes. For that one moment, she could see bright, beautiful colors jumping for complete joy through those black orbs of his. She wasn't sure if anyone else could see them, but she was sure they were real and they were magical. There was no where else in the world they'd rather have been with at the time.

Shikamaru took Sorano's hand and whispered, "I'm so happy you're okay. Right now, nothing in the world could make me happier than I am right now. Well, unless you did something totally shocking, but-"

Shikamaru was interrupted by Sorano pressing her lips against his once more. Being as shocked as he was, Shikamaru fell onto to his back because he was caught so off guard. There they were, Sorano ontop of Shikamaru, now starting to make out.

I mean, honestly, you must have thought what Nozomi and Zetsu were thinking, right?

"_Uhm.. I didn't know Shikamaru was like that. Wow, they must be in some kinda love to express _that_ in public_," Nozomi thought.

"_Wow. I wish I was Shikamaru. He's such a lucky guy. Sorano's way too good for him, though. **Does that mean we can eat him? **No. **Why not?!** Because __Sorano loves him_," Zetsu thought.

After Shikamaru and Sorano had stopped themselves from going too far, Nozomi, Shikamaru, and Sorano decided it was time to part ways with Zetsu.

"Zetsu, thank you, so much, for all you've done for me. You helped me get my freedom back and you saved my life. I will never forget you," Sorano said, kissing his cheek. "I'm sorry I couldn't heal you, because of my accident. I could do it now, very quickly, if you would like me to."

"Won't you lose control of your chakra again?" Zetsu asked.

Sorano chuckled, "No. I have a chakra seal." She revelaed a chakra seal placed on her wrist to make sure none of the Gobi's chakra would get into her chakra system.

"Oh, okay."

Sorano quickly healed Zetsu's arm wound and said her goodbyes to him.

"See you later," Shikamaru told Zetsu.

"Yeah," Zetsu said and he leaned in closer to Shikamaru. "You know, you're a really lucky guy."

"I know."

Zetsu chuckled.

Shikamaru walked away from Zetsu and Nozomi walked up to him.

"Hi, I'm Nozomi," she said.

"I'm Zetsu," he said.

"Haha, I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier. I would've, but with all the commotion.." Nozomi trailed off.

"It's fine. It was nice to meet you."

"You too. Bye!"

"Bye."

Nozomi, Shikamaru, and Sorano headed back to the bath house. By this time, it was beginning to get dark. They journeyed until they got to the bath house and went in to where they had last left Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and Neji. As they looked into the room, it was empty, so apparently they had checked out. Sorano got her clothes after she had realized she was still in her robe from the bath house, while Shikamaru checked his tracking device to see the red dots of his squad members. As they followed the four dots, they appeared at a hospital. Naruto was there waiting in the lobby for them.

"Shikamaru! Nozomi!" there was a long pause. "Sorano!" Naruto ran over to Sorano and gave her a hug. "Are you okay? Did they brainwash you? Are you gonna die?"

"Naruto! Naruto!" Sorano interrupted his questioning mouth. "I am okay, they did not brainwash me, and I'm not gonna die."

"Okay. That's good."

"Naruto, how's Neji?" Nozomi asked.

"Oh, well, he's not doing so well." Naruto's excited emotions suddenly mellowed out.

"Well, what's wrong?"

"Neji's dead."

* * *

**Cliffhanger much?  
Haha..  
Just gonna have to wait until next chapter to find out what's happened to Neji.  
xD  
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
Send in a review if you would like!  
Thanks!  
Until next timee..**


	13. Suffering

**Hello, again.  
I'm sorry for the cliff hanger, especially to SnowTigerShelby.  
I didn't kill your man, okay?!  
Boob. Face.  
But, here's the thirteenth chapter.  
Enjoy, kids!**

**Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto, all the way. I own Sorano, Nozomi, and the plot.**

* * *

"Neji's...DEAD?" Nozomi's eyes were wide with shock.

"Well, he's not technically 'dead', but he's in a severe coma. He's been unconscious for about three hours and they can't get him to wake up. They think there was something in his lungs, because he's not breathing to well, so they've hooked him up to a respirator," Naruto explained. "Do you know what happened? Something that would infect his lungs?"

"Uhm, yeah. Well, as we began our voyage to find Sorano, we started to go into the hole that was made below the gape in the wall at the bath house. Apparently, we had let our guard down because, as we entered the hole, bombs blew up and Neji and I were hanging on the edge for our lives. Shikamaru landed on the safe ground so he came over to help us. I was hanging onto to Neji, so Shikamaru helped me first. Just as Shikamaru went to help Neji, he fell. There were other bombs in the pit, so, they exploded as he fell. I guess, the smoke filled his lungs," Nozomi said while tears filled her eyes. "I didn't know it would hurt him so much. Is Neji gonna die?!"

"I don't know, Nozomi. The doctors aren't telling me much at all."

Nozomi started bawling. "Well.. can.. I.. see.. him?" she asked between sobs.

"I don't know. You're gonna have to ask them if you can get into ICU. Like I said before, they won't tell me anything."

Sorano went over to Nozomi and gave her full hug. She gave Nozomi a shoulder to cry on. She wasn't sure of Nozomi's relation to this Neji person, but, from the way she was reacting, he sounded like someone close to her.

"Naruto, where's Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.

"They're in the waiting room on the floor Neji's on. I was actually on my way out so I could finish up the mission, but you guys came in, so, I guess, I can stay."

"Okay. Well, Nozomi?"

Nozomi's head lifted from Sorano's shoulder. "Yes?" she sniffled.

"Come with me. I'll take you to go see Neji."

Nozomi completely pulled away from Sorano. "Okay." She wiped her remaining tears with the back of her hand.

Shikamaru and Nozomi walked to the front desk. While they went, Sorano wondered who this person, Neji, was. She knew his name sounded familiar, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Naruto-kun?" Sorano questioned.

"Hai, Sorano-chan?" Naruto replied.

"Uhm, who's Neji?"

"Neji? Well, he's a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village. And, he's Nozomi's boyfriend of three years. He's a really good guy. Very dependent. Man, if he dies, I won't ever be the same. But, I know that that risk comes with being a ninja, but, we can't lose such a great ninja like him. I don't know what Konoha would do without him. He's so smart, and that Byakugan is a power anyone would kill for. We can't lose him. He's just.. he's my friend." Naruto began to get teary-eyed.

Sorano saw the tears and said, "Naruto, why don't we sit down. He really must have been someone close to you."

"He was. I just feel so bad for Nozomi, though. Neji told me that he wanted to marry her. He saw it in his fate that he was to marry her. But, if he dies, well, that won't happen."

"Well, we need to not think negatively about this situation. It's obviously an obstacle that you're gonna have to overcome. But, you guys can't be too sad about it for very long. Neji needs all of the support he can get, and that's a dead end if it's coming from negative sources."

"That's true.."

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"I hope he's gonna be okay," Shikamaru said to Nozomi, as they walked down the hall.

There was silence except for their footsteps and the occasional sniffling of Nozomi.

Shikamaru spoke more softly, "But, are you gonna be okay, Nozomi?"

Nozomi didn't bother to look up. "I..I honestly don't know, Shikamaru. I mean, I've known Neji for, what? Five years now?"

"Mhm.."

"Yeah, so, if I end up losing him, if _we_ end up losing him, I don't know what's gonna happen."

"Listen, Nozomi, I'm sure Neji will be alright. He's come out of things like this before, hasn't he? He'll be fine. I promise."

Nozomi wondered at what Shikamaru just promised. "_How would Shikamaru be able to promise something as wavering as that? I mean, it's something entirely not up to him. It's up to fate.. Oh, God, I've been hanging around Neji way too long. N-neji... Neji_!" Just then, Nozomi began crying, sobbing, _bawling_.

"N-nozomi? It's okay.. Neji's gonna be alright. I'm serious. You're gonna be all right." Shikamaru looked at Nozomi, who's hands were covered in tears. He felt he needed to do something, so, he went over and wrapped his comforting arms around her.

Nozomi sobbed into his shoulder for a little bit, then she pulled away and said, "Thank you, Shikamaru."

"It's fine. It was partly my fault, also."

"It wasn't your fault. It was just what happened. Everything happens for a reason, right?"

"Yeah.. let's go in and see Neji now."

"I'll be in there in a second. I have to brace myself."

"Okay." Shikamaru opened Neji's door. He looked back and said, "Nozomi?"

Nozomi's face was buried within her hands. She mumbled, "Hm?"

"He's gonna be alright."

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"I wonder what your Hokage's gonna think about Neji's injury," Sorano said to Naruto, when they sat down in the lobby.

"I wonder what Gaara's gonna say about this mission not even being close to done yet," Naruto said to Sorano.

"Oh, crap." Sorano quickly stood up. "We have to go finish that mission. And, Hokage needs to know about Neji. But, Nozomi is spending her time with Neji, but, we need all the help we can get for Suna so we can't send anyone to go tell her. Oh, no! Gaara's gonna kill me for not finishing the mission for my village! I'm gonna get fired from my job and it's gonna be so bad that everyone in Suna will hate me, and I can't even explain what's gonna happen-"

"Sorano!"

"What?!"

"It's okay." Naruto put a comforting hand on Sorano's shoulder. "I already sent a messenger bird to Granny Tsunade, so she knows about Neji and Nozomi's mission and his injury, their location, and all of that. We can go get Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, and Shikamaru to go finish the mission. Sure, it took a lot of time, but, it's alright."

Sorano sighed. She just wasn't sure about this. "Well, I guess we'd better set off to do our mission, once again."

"Let's go get Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, and Shikamaru."

"Okay."

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Nozomi entered the cold, dark room to see Shikamaru hunched over, looking at the bed below him. She walked to the bed and stood next to him, while staring down onto the peaceful Neji. Nozomi looked at his closed eyes. She could just imagine the almost white orbs gazing back up at her in a warm, loving way. But, all she saw was the cruelness of death's grip clutching him. His arms and legs were completely wrapped up, most likely from the burns the bombs left. His face was partially wrapped up, also. Suddenly, she could hear faint footsteps in the hall. They seemed to pick up speed and sound within seconds. There was a knock on the door. Shikamaru went over to the door and slid it open. Sorano stepped into the room.

"Shikamaru, Naruto and I were debating on whether we should go finish the mission. What do you think?" she said.

"Oh, yeah. We should go finish that. Where's everyone else?" he asked.

"Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi are in the waiting room up here and Naruto went to go get them."

"Alright." Shikamaru began to pass by her. "You coming?"

"Yeah. I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." Shikamaru leaned over and kissed her forehead. Once he left, Sorano went and stood next Nozomi.

"Are you okay?" Sorano asked her.

There was a silence.

"So, that's Neji?" Sorano tried to make conversation, while pointing to the wrapped, unconscious body.

Nozomi nodded quietly.

"Nozomi, it's okay. He's gonna be fine."

"How do you know?" Nozomi finally spoke up. "He could never wake up. He could die tonight. He could die in a couple hours. He could die right this second. You don't know! You couldn't." Nozomi choked on her last words. The tears were filling up her large, brown eyes.

"I do know. I know that there's a will inside of Neji that will keep him here. He wouldn't leave you like this." Sorano gave Nozomi a comforting hug.

"Sorano, you should go. Shikamaru and Naruto are probably waiting for you."

Sorano let go of Nozomi. "Yeah. Well, feel better, okay? Neji's gonna be alright. See ya!"

"Thanks. Bye."

Sorano disappeared out of the door, leaving Nozomi there with Neji by herself.

Nozomi walked over to Neji's bed. She pulled up a chair and sat down, while looking at Neji. She stared at him for a few minutes, realizing that she was alone with Neji.

Nozomi reluctantly grabbed Neji's hand. It was surprisingly warm, compared to what she thought it would be like. She was expecting a cold, waxy feeling where blood had stopped flowing. She guessed, that was one thing she didn't know about coma patients. Cold had always reminded her of when her parents died, when she was thirteen years old. Her parents had been desperately fighting for their village, but in the end, they ended up dying a painful death. Nozomi could remember that dark, gloomy night, almost as if it had happened earlier that day. "Mother! Father!" she had cried from the hillside she was on. Her mother and father both fell to the ground. She ran and ran, dodging kunai and shuriken, getting a few small cuts every now and then. Once she had reached them, she fell to her knees and grabbed both of their hands. She held them tightly. They were both cold and waxy. Her father told her to go back because it was a dangerous place. She wouldn't listen to him. Her mother knew what a free, independent spirit she had. She said, with short, rasping breaths, "Live with hope, Nozomi. Live for your name."

For years, Nozomi tried to find out what her mother meant. She couldn't figure it out. She couldn't find the meaning of her name, either. She had pondered for the longest time. But, somehow-

Nozomi's thoughts were interrupted by a long beep, flooding her ears. She looked at Neji's heart monitor and noticed the green line wasn't moving up and down like it was supposed to. It was moving in a solid line, indicating he was dead.

"Nurse! Nurse!" Nozomi ran towards the sliding door, opened it, and stepped into the secluded hall. "Nurse!" But, then something hit her. No one was there.

* * *

**Well, that was the end of chapter thirteen.  
I hope you enjoyed it.  
Sorry for the wonderful cliff hanger.  
You know, I love those.  
Review, please and thanks!  
Until next time.**


	14. Hospitality

**Heyy, everyone.  
Thank you guys so much for letting me reach 1,000 hits on this story!  
For all you contributors, I give you thanks tenfold!****  
I hope you enjoyed it thus far.  
And, I hope you continue reading.  
Also, I may not be updating this story as much, not like I update it alot anyways, because I'm also in the midst of writing another story.****  
It's SasuSaku, so, if you enjoy that pairing, you should check it out. (:  
Anddddd, one more update.  
****Wanna see Nozomi?  
Well, I'm sure it's awful, but here's at least a visualization.  
Go to DeviantArt and put in after the URL: /art/Naruto-OC-Nozomi-Colored-103347013  
And, you'll see her.  
If you look on there further, you might see Sorano.  
I'll eventually upload a better image of her, but, for now, you'll have to bare with me.  
But, anywaysss...  
Fourteenth chapter is here.  
I hope you enjoy. (:**

**Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto. I own Sorano, Nozomi, & the plot.**

* * *

"Wh- where is everybody?"

Nozomi stood in the lonely, empty hall in the hospital. She turned back to the door she had just come out of, and walked back in. The door slid shut behind her. Suddenly, everything went black and then she began to run. She ran through the darkness looking for a way out. Where was everybody? What happened to Neji? Where was she? At the end of the darkness, there was a faint light coming closer and closer to her. As she went towards it, the darkness swelled and transformed into a sea of water. She began to swim, and swim, but she started to run out of breath. She was about to reach the light, when she, all of a sudden, lost all of her breath. The light slowly began to fade. She reached and reached, but she couldn't get to the light.

Immediately, her head popped up from the bed and she was relieved to hear the comforting sound of the rhythmic beeping on Neji's heart monitor. She looked up to see Neji's almost white eyes staring right at her. His hand was on her head, stroking her long, curly hair.

"Neji?" Nozomi wasn't quite sure if what she was seeing was real, especially with the dream she just had.

"Hey, Nozomi," as he talked, his voice wavered, as if he wasn't quite used to talking yet.

Nozomi's first reaction was to jump up and down and give him a huge kiss, but, surprisingly, she didn't. She backed up from the bed and stared at him, like she didn't know who he was. She was at a loss for words. He was bundled up in bandages and he looked fragile. She didn't even want to touch him. His face was a pale white, whiter than usual.

"Is something wrong?" his voice still oscillating a little more than before. He always had a way of sensing when something was wrong.

Nozomi remained speechless. She didn't know if what she was seeing was real. Was it a dream? She wasn't sure. But, she kinda hoped it was. Seeing Neji like that made her heart break. All of those bandages and his injuries looked as if he were in eternal pain. But, even if this was a dream, should she be so rude as to not speak to him?

"Neji?" her voice broke from not speaking for such a long period of time and the tears forming in her throat. "Are you really alive?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Come here." He weakly motioned for her to come closer to him.

Nozomi bent over top of Neji and he put his bandaged hand on her cheek. "I just wanted to let you know, no matter what we go through, I love you and I always will."

Nozomi put her hand on his and they laced their fingers together. "I love you, too, Neji."

A nurse walked calmly into the room and went over to the heart monitor. She checked it to make sure it was okay and walked towards the bed.

"I see you're awake, now.." She looked at the chart next to his bed, "Hyuuga-kun." She looked at Nozomi as she began to step away from Neji's bed, letting go of his hand. "Hello, miss." She turned back to Neji. "How are you feeling, sir?"

Neji looked at Nozomi and then at the nurse. "A little better."

"Well, soon enough, we're going to have to change your dressings." The nurse bent down towards Neji and whispered, "Is that woman your wife? She's been here the whole time you've been in that horrid coma."

Neji's eyes went wide with shock. "Wife?" He thought about it for a second. "Well, not yet, she isn't. She's my girlfriend of three years."

The nurse looked at Nozomi and examined her. "She's a beautiful young lady. You did well." She gave Neji a large smile.

Nozomi stood there wondering what they were talking about. Eventually, she left and they were alone once again.

"When is she coming back to change you?" Nozomi asked, curiously.

"Pretty soon. She just went to go get more bandages. She said that since you were here, you could do it," Neji explained.

Nozomi blushed. She'd seen him without his shirt on before, but just the thought of his bare chest aroused her.

The nurse walked back into the room with a pile of fresh bandages. She then handed them to Nozomi. "You'll be comfortable dressing him, right?" the nurse said.

Nozomi took the bandages and said, "Uhm, yeah. Sure."

The nurse gave a slight nod and left the room.

Nozomi looked at Neji. "Well, I guess I should start." She walked over to Neji's bed and looked down at him."I guess you should stand up first, though."

Neji threw the covers off of him, and as he began to sit up, he plopped right back down and let out a cry of pain.

"Wh-what's wrong, Neji? What'd I do?" Nozmomi began to panic.

"N-nothing, Nozomi. M-my ribs hurt alot. What h-happened to me? What happened when I fell?" Neji held his stomach, as if he were trying to seize the pain himself.

Nozomi realized that she never got all of the information on what happened to Neji. She remembered the chart the nurse picked up near the heart monitor and walked towards them. She picked it up and looked throughout the entire thing. Apparently, Neji had broken four ribs, gotten a concussion, and a hair fracture in his left arm. To her, he was extremely lucky. Anyone else would have been dead the moment they hit the first bomb in that dreaded hole. To her, _she_ was lucky. They'd been together for so long and this large obstacle they've come to, well, they at least got through the hardest part: trying to keep Neji alive.

"N-nozomi?" Neji brought her back to reality.

"Huh?" she said.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking."

"Oh."

"Well, the chart says that when you fell, you broke four ribs, got a concussion, and you have a small fracture in your left arm. That's probably why you can't get up."

"Now, I'm starting to feel the pain," Neji sighed.

"But.. I still need to dress you. So, I have to get you up. C'mon." She walked back to the bed and put her hand out. "I'll help you."

Neji hesitantly took her hand. She pulled his feet towards the right side of the bed and coaxed him off very slowly.

He sat up on the side of the bed a looked up at Nozomi. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him. He buried his head into her stomach and she put her hand on his head. She rubbed her fingers through his long hair, making the pony-tail holder fall out. He pulled away so she could begin. She started with the bandages on his face. She started pulling them away from the cuts and burns on his precious face. She set the bloody bandages in a pile on the bed. She took his hands and gradually pulled him up off of the bed. He stood straight, trying to get used to the pain.

"Are you okay?" Nozomi asked.

Neji breathed sharply. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Nozomi looked at him suspiciously, but then decided she should keep going. She tugged on his shirt and released its buttons. There were bandages covering his chest down to his stomach. Then, she pulled the sleeve as far as she could to get his arm out of it. She took his arm out of the other sleeve and examined him. There were bandages covering his muscular arms, along with his chest. She started with his right arm. She unwrapped the bandages and stared in awe at the sight of his burns.

"_How painful.._" Nozomi thought.

Nozomi threw the bandages from his arms in the pile on the bed. She started with his chest, carefully unwrapping them so she wouldn't hurt him. She threw those bandages into the pile with the others. She looked him over and then looked into his eyes. He was so tall, at least 5 inches taller than her. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close to him, so his bare chest was touching her clothed body.

Neji bent down, making their foreheads touch, and whispered, "You're beautiful."

Nozomi blushed and buried her head into his chest. Neji took his hands from her shoulders and put them on her face, making her look at him.

"You are. Nozomi, you know how much I love you?" He moved his hands to her waist and pulled her even closer. "I love you more than life itself. I love you more than anyone else has. You know how I know that?"

"How?"

"I know that because I live for one and only reason: you. You were the only thing keeping me alive in that coma. Somehow, when the warmth of your hand touched mine.."

"_How did he know that? He was in a coma.. Is all that stuff they say about coma patients true_?"

"..it made me come alive and I got this strange willpower and then this longing to just be with you. Then, I woke up and saw you sleeping on the bed clenching my hand. Then, you let go and got this strange look on your face, like, you were looking for something, like you had lost something. So, I tried comforting you by stroking your hair."

Nozomi was speechless. Everything made sense now. When she let go of Neji's hand, she was lost. That's when the door closed on her and she couldn't reach the light. She decided she wouldn't tell Neji, though. "Wow, Neji. I had no idea that I meant so much to you."

"But, you do. You mean more to me than anything else. If I could, I'd-"

Neji was interrupted by a finger to his lips. Nozomi stood on her tiptoes and put her arms around his neck pulling him down to her level. She pressed her lips against his and they both opened their mouths, and their tongues intertwined together. He reached in front of him, unzipped her jonin vest, and pulled it off of her, still continuing their tongue war. She pulled her arms from around his neck and rubbed the soft skin on his muscular chest. He moved her over to the bed and cradled her onto it, him now ontop. His lips and hands moved down, lips on neck and hands on legs, closing in on the button to her pants. He snapped it undone and rubbed her slim body.

Nozomi let out small, gasping breaths. "N-neji.." she moaned.

Neji groaned in reply.

Nozomi lost train of thought, and she let Neji continue. He sneaked (AN: grammatically correct, might I add) his hands into her pants, pulling them farther and farther down, until they reached her ankles. Nozomi unbuttoned his pants and pulled them off of him. He pulled her shirt off and threw it on the floor. His lips went farther and farther down her body. He'd finally reached his limit. She'd reached hers. He got on top of her.

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Sorano, Shikamaru, Naruto, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi had finally reached Suna. Sorano carried her large bubble, which had grown ten times as it was before. Sorano and the team parted, she went to the kazekage's office while they went to the fields.

**-Sorano's POV-**

"Why the fuck did it take you so long?!" Gaara growled at me.

"I-I'm sorry, Gaara-sama. I..we..it wasn't intended on taking so long. Things happened on the way here that we couldn't control. I'm sorry, Gaara," I tried to smooth things out.

"Address me formally and as your kazekage when you are reporting to me! You should have that much respect for me."

"I'm sorry, kazekage-sama. We ran into Akatsuki on the way, and they kidnapped me. But, one of them, Zetsu, hepled me escape. And, then, Shikamaru and his friend, Nozomi from Konoha, rescued me. Then, Neji, another leaf ninja, was almost killed. He went into a severe coma and we're still waiting on the results from Nozomi, who's with him now. And, even before that, we were attacked by ninja from the hidden waterfall. We hurried as much as we-" I choked on tears. One fell from my eye and slid down my face. I hated it when Gaara got mad at me. I hated it so much I would cry. I'm not a wuss, but it just frusterated me.

"D-don't cry, Sorano. Hey, now. Don't do that." He used his sand to wipe my tears from across the room.

"I'm sorry, kazekage-sama. I didn't mean to." I said, trying to hide the fact that I was crying.

"Well, it's fine, now. Quit crying. Now, go back to your other partners. They're going to need you to spread the water." Gaara smirked at me.

"Thank you, Gaara-sama!" I ran over to him and gave him a hug. He shrugged me off, as usual, and I ran out of the door.

* * *

**Alrightyyyyy.  
Well, that's the fourteenth chapterrrr.  
Hnnn, it was quite interesting wasn't it?  
Well, I hoped you enjoyed.  
Reviewwwww!  
Seeyaaa.**


	15. Rebellion

**Heyy, heyyy.  
Fifteenth chapterrr.  
I'm proud to announce a new character to my story: Hizoku.  
****With the way I want things to go right now, she's gonna be a pretty big character.  
Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto. I own Sorano, Nozomi, Hizoku, Yuzuki, and the plot.**

* * *

When they had finally completed their mission, it was almost dusk. Sorano and Shikamaru walked hand in hand, back to the Hokage's mansion to confirm that it was completed. Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon followed along, walking as slow as possible.

Shikamaru sighed. "Today's been so troublesome. And long. I wanna go home, snuggle into the covers with you, and go to sleep." He blushed when he realized what he said.

"With me, eh?" Sorano questioned. She laid her head on his shoulder as they walked. "Shikamaru.."

"Hm?"

"What's-what's gonna happen when you go back to Konoha? How are we gonna see each other?"

"Sorano, can we not do this now?" he seemed irritated.

She lifted her head off of his shoulder and looked at him, hoping he would look her in the eye. "But, Shika.. if we put this off, we may never get around to talking about it. I don't wanna make last-minute decisions like I've done all of my life. C'mon, Shika. We have to talk about this some-"

"I said no! I don't need this right now!" He let go of her hand, and kept going.

Sorano stopped where she was. He'd never yelled at her before. She didn't know how to handle his anger. She knew how to handle Gaara's, but not Shikamaru's. Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon walked up behind her.

"Hey, Sorano," Naruto said behind her, pushing her to get her to walk. "Why aren't you up there with Shikamaru?"

Sorano moved reluctantly forward. "He yelled at me."

"So? Suck it up." Naruto walked beside Sorano.

"But.." She didn't want to admit it, but he was right. "He's never yelled at me before. After he was saying how he was tired, I just wondered what was gonna happen to us when he went back to Konoha."

"I see your problem, but, you shouldn't be down just 'cause he yelled at you. I know from experience that if he's tired, he gets irritated easily. He'll be alright once he gets some sleep."

"Are you sure? I can't help but to be upset. You didn't see the evil glare he gave me. Like, he hated me, or something."

"Did he say he was tired, first of all? Or when you asked him, he just went crazy on you?"

"Well, he said he wanted to go home, snuggle into his blankets with me, and go to sleep."

"That's him saying he's tired."

They both looked ahead and saw Shikamaru yawn, stretch his arms, and put them behind his head, walking the entire time.

"Does that not look tired to you?"

"No."

"..dattebayo."

"That looks like him all of the time."

"Well, I've known him for fifteen years. I think I have good idea of how he acts."

"I hope so. Do you think I should talk to him?"

"Sure. Go right ahead. Just don't irritate him. Don't talk about confusing or stressful things while he's tired."

"Alright." Sorano left Naruto and walked back to Shikamaru, who was still walking with his hands behind his head. "Hi.." She waited for a reply.

There wasn't one.

"Uhm.. hello?"

Still no reply.

"Shikamaru?" she patted him on the shoulder.

"Nani?" he growled.

"I-I'm sorry.." Sorano began to tear up. "_I understand being tired, but why is he being difficult like this_?"

No reply.

"Please talk to me, Shikamaru. I understand you being tired. You can go to my place and we can crash there tonight. Then, we can go back to Konoha in the morning. No use going out when you have no energy."

No reply, again.

As she was about to say something once again, she was interrupted.

"Are you gonna sleep with me?"

Shikamaru looked at Sorano and smirked. She smiled, knowing he was back to normal. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. He accepted the hug by putting his hands on her waist. The others began to get closer to them.

"Nice to see you two lovebirds have made up. Now, hurry up, so we can get this over with," Naruto said tapping them both on the shoulders.

Sorano and Shikamaru both looked up to see the large Kazekage's mansion. They walked into the massive building and went up the stairs, revealing the office. Sorano knocked on the door and waited for Gaara to grant permission for them to come in. If Gaara was in a meeting, it was usually her job to tell the others outside to wait, and that he was in a meeting, but, she had been on that mission. From the schedule he gave her earlier, she didn't think he had a meeting until later today.

Suddenly, the door cracked open and a little girl's head popped out.

"Yuzuki! What are you doing in there?" Sorano yelled.

"Sh! Gaara-sama's asleep. What would you like?"

"I need to talk to Gaara. Get out of the way, Yuzuki."

"No! Why should I, Gaara's soon-to-be-wife-once-I-am-of-age, let you go see him. You are just his secretary. You know what happens to bosses and their secretaries, right? Keh!"

"I also am in authority over you. I'm his assistant. You aren't."

"But, I'm his wife-to-be-once-I'm-of-age!"

"Sure. Except he doesn't know it. Now, come on. Let us in."

"_Us_? How many of you are there?" Yuzuki pulled the door open a little more which revealed Shikamaru, Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon on her side, and revealed a tied up Gaara on their side.

Sorano ran in through the door as first reaction and immediately questioned him.

"Gaara?! Are you okay? What'd she do to you?"

"Where'd you come from? Why'd you interrupt our game?"

"Game? What game?"

"This one. She said we were going to play a game that went like this: she would tie me to my chair and she would ask me questions about her. If I got them wrong, she would take a piece of my clothing off."

Sorano sweat-dropped. "..keh.." She turned around to find that the rest of the group came into the office.

Yuzuki looked closely at Konohamaru. "Do I know you?" she asked.

Konohamaru looked Yuzuki over and was about to say something when she interrupted him.

"I REMEMBER YOU! You were that guy that I sat next to in the preliminaries for the chuunin exam! You got cuter!"

Konohamaru blushed and Moegi's eyes tinged green.

"Gaara-sama, we're here to report back and to confirm that the mission has been completed. We'll be on our way to report to the Hokage in the morning. I invited them all to stay here in Suna overnight, since we've been up an extremely long time. Is that alright, Kazekage-sama?"

"Yeah. But-" Gaara was interrupted by a scream.

Gaara and Sorano turned to find Moegi practically pulling Yuzuki's hair out, Konohamaru standing there in utter shock, Udon in his usual pose, and Naruto and Shikamaru watching wide-eyed.

"Moegi! Yuzuki! What's going on here?" Sorano ran to the two girls.

"I was talking to him," Yuzuki pointed to Konohamaru, "and she freakin' attacked me!"

". . ." Sorano knew that Moegi had a huge crush on Konohamaru. When she met her five years ago, she could tell. Yuzuki must have been treading on her territory.

"Well?! Aren't you going to tell this bitch to get off of me?!"

"Yuzuki!"

Anger began to harvest in Moegi's eyes. "What'd you call me, slut?!"

"Girls, stop!" Sorano went over, grabbed their shirts, and pulled them apart. "Yuzuki was just talking to Konohamaru." She whispered to Moegi, "No need to get that jealous. You guys will be gone tomorrow, and he won't ever see her again, okay?"

Moegi's eyes lightened up and she let go of Yuzuki's hair. "Sorry," she growled.

Yuzuki put her hand to her head and rubbed where hair had partially been pulled out. "Yeah, whatever." Moegi focused her eyes onto Yuzuki. Sorano elbowed Yuzuki in the side. "Ow." She looked at Sorano. "Sorry." She said, unwillingly.

"C'mon. We need to go find a place for you all to sleep, okay?" Sorano tried to get the large group of people out of Gaara's office. "And, you, Yuzuki, need to go back home and go to sleep. I heard you had a mission tomorrow. You need rest for that, don't you?"

"...keh." Yuzuki didn't want to go home at that moment. She wanted to rip Moegi's hair out of her head, but Sorano was there and she would hinder her from doing anything. But, she then thought of a brilliant way to do even worse. "Hey, Konohamaru.."

"Yeah?" he replied, greatly confused.

"Do you wanna come stay at my place tonight?" she asked him with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Nani?!" Moegi defended.

"Uh oh.." Sorano muttered under her breath.

"I was asking Konohamaru if he wanted to stay at my place instead of an expensive hotel with his incompetent teammates."

"Uhm, excuse me?"

"You heard me. Now let Konohamaru answer for himself."

"He will not spend the night at your place!"

"Actually, I think I will. God, you're really paranoid today, Moegi. There's no need for that shit." Konohamaru spoke for himself for once. He began to turn, but then he looked at Moegi and pointed to Yuzuki. "You know, she was right. You are a bitch."

Moegi stood in dead silence as Yuzuki motioned for Konohamaru to follow her.

Sorano looked at Gaara who looked at Shikamaru who looked at Naruto who looked at Udon who looked at Moegi. She'd begun to let tears fall down her cheeks.

"He-he's never talked to me like that," Moegi sniffed.

"It's okay, Moegi. No need to cry about it. I'm sure he's just having a bad day," Udon went over and comforted her by putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his chest for her to be more secure. He didn't act or look like his usual self.

Shikamaru, Naruto, Gaara, and Sorano all looked at each other.

"I think we should leave now," Naruto said, desperate for some sleep.

"Uhm.. yeah. Now would be a good time. C'mon, Udon, Moegi. Let's go find a place to sleep," Shikamaru said, yawning.

Moegi dried the rest of her tears and followed the others out of the door.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Gaara-sama," Sorano told him as they left.

"Yeah, whatever," he yelled as they ran down the stairs.

Once they got outside, Sorano turned to Shikamaru and Naruto.

"Naruto, are you going to need help finding a vacant place to stay? If not, me and Shikamaru are heading to my apartment," Sorano asked.

"Uhm, I dunno. I don't really know the layout of Suna as well as Konoha's," Naruto replied.

"Well, can you follow directions?"

"Of course."

"Well, I know this quaint, little motel I stayed in when I first got here. I'm sure it's still there and just as nice. I'll give you the directions, if you'd like."

"That sounds fine."

As Sorano told Naruto the directions, Shikamaru took a look around. The Kazekage's mansion was large and nice, but creepy. It loomed over the entire village with gloominess. He looked at the sky and saw darkness. He could see few stars because of the bright lights coming from the buildings. The minute stars he could see, though, were beautiful. He was then brought back to reality.

Sorano reached into her pocket. "Now, here's some money for you guys to pay for the rooms."

"No, no, that's okay. We have some money still. You don't have to pay, dattebayo."

"No, I want to. Here. Take it." She gave him the money.

"Thanks."

Naruto, Udon, and Moegi took off, following the directions Sorano gave them.

"Well, I guess it's just the two of us," Sorano said, turning towards Shikamaru.

"Yeah," he yawned.

"C'mon. Let's go to my apartment, sleepyhead."

Sorano took off, Shikamaru following close behind her. They zoomed through the sand village, dodging the buildings and trees they came across along the way.

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She ran through the city, looking for the large tower Tsunade had told her about. "_Where is that damned thing_?" she thought. She slowed her pace and began a slow trot. There it was, that large residence known to be the Kazekage's. "_Finally_.."

She walked to the building, up the stairs, and to the office, located at the top of the staircase. It was late, but she was told to get there as soon as possible. She knocked on the door.

"Hello?" she said through the door.

"Come in," a voice replied.

She opened the door and walked in.

"Kazekage-sama," she said.

"State your business," Gaara retorted.

"I'm Hizoku of the Leaf Village. Tsunade, I mean, Hokage-sama told me to give you this scroll as soon as possible."

"Hand it over."

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"Here we are," Sorano said as she opened the door to her apartment.

There were things all over the apartment: trash, clothes, and anything you could pretty much think of.

"Finally," Shikamaru yawned, searching for a bed.

"Right through that door is the bedroom. And- oh, shit."

"What?"

"I forgot something at the Kazekage tower."

"Oh."

"I'll be right back. I need to go get it. You can go to bed. I'll be back soon."

"Alright."

Sorano kissed Shikamaru on the cheek, and ran back out of the door.

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Gaara looked at the scroll very carefully. He nodded in approval and began writing a reply to Tsunade.

"Come here." He motioned for Hizoku to take the scroll.

Hizoku neared the desk and leaned over, revealing her cleavage. Gaara looked up unexpectedly and Hizoku caught him within her jutsu.

"Tell me all you know about the Akat-" She was interrupted by a knocking at the door. She quickly discontinued the ninjutsu, erasing any thoughts pertaining to this from Gaara's mind.

There was a knock again. Gaara rubbed his head, as if he had a headache. "Uh.. come in."

Sorano came through the door. "Gaara-sama, I need.. uhm.. who are you?"

"I'm Hizoku, a ninja from Konoha. I'm here on a mission."

"Oh, okay. I'm Sorano, Gaara's assistant. Nice to meet you."

"_Assistant? I didn't get any information on her. She's gonna be trouble_. Nice to meet you too."

"Here, Hizoku. Take this to the Hokage. Sorry about the runaround we gave you."

"I'm sorry for the interruption," Sorano apologized to them both.

"It's fine, Sorano," Gaara said.

Hizoku dismissed herself and left to go deliver the message back to the Hokage.

"So, what did you need?" Gaara asked.

"I- uhm.. I forgot," Sorano replied, giving a little smile.

"Leave, Sorano. Goodnight."

"Heh.. sorry, Gaara-sama! Goodnight!"

Sorano zoomed out of the door. She set out for her apartment, but was stopped when she saw a glowing light in the distance. Curiosity got the best of her, and she walked towards the light. It was hidden away in a dark alley. She began walking very slowly towards it.

"Hello?" she called out.

No sound was made except for a faint, constant whoosh.

She turned the corner and looked into the alley. There was a figure standing before the light that looked vaguely familiar. She got a little closer.

"H-hello?" She realized who it was. "Hizoku?"

* * *

**Well, that was the fifteenth chapter.  
I totally hoped you enjoyed it.  
Oh, bythaway, Happy Turkey Day!  
Hahaaaaa.  
And review, 'cause I can't wait to hear from you.****  
Peace.**


	16. Realizations

**Heyy, everyone.  
Sorry about the delayyyy.  
My internet's been down for two weeks and I haven't been able to get on much.  
And, I've had major writer's block. D:****  
But, anyway, sixteenth chapter here.  
Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: © Masashi Kishimoto. I own Sorano, Nozomi, Hizoku, Yuzuki, and the plot.

* * *

**Naruto, Udon, and Moegi barged into the small room.

"Ugh.." Naruto pushed the door open further and gazed around the room.

The closed in space had two twin beds covered in dust, which he could have sworn was just sand but he wasn't quite sure.

"This is.." Naruto decided to use Sorano's words, seeing as he was practically speechless. "..quaint."

"Quaint my ass," Moegi came into the room, pushing Naruto out of the way. "This place looks.. and smells, might I add, like shit. Why the fuck are we here?"

"Uh.. don't be so moody, dattebayo. Konohamaru was just frustrated, no need to be upset over him."

"Konohamaru? Who said I was upset over that fuck? Who said I was upset, period? I'm not upset. I'm fucking peachy." Moegi concealed the tears forming in her eyes by turning and placing her bag on the bed, all the while creating a cloud of dust-sand, she, so-called "claimed". "Let's just get some sleep. Everything will be fine once we get back to K..Kono..ha.." no one hearing her whisper, "Maru."

"Alright, Moegi. Well, we're here because Sorano told us about it and she's a real close friend of the owners so we got a discount."

"I understand why we got a discount," Moegi muttered.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

"Hn. Well, anyways, who's sleepng where?" Naruto contemplated.

"I'm sleeping here," Moegi sat on the bed next to her bag, kicking up more dust-sand. Coughing, she added, "You guys can both sleep there."

"No way, dattebayo. I'm the leader for now, so Udon," he turned to look at him. "You can sleep over there with Moegi."

"No fucking way, Naruto. I refuse to sleep with anyone. I'm the lady, for God's sake. I shouldn't be forced to sleep with someone."

"Too bad. Udon, sleep over there."

Moegi watched Udon walk over to the bed, pulled her bag off of the bed, and set his and hers both on the floor. He walked near her and sat next to her on the bed.

"Sorry, Moegi, for being such a burden," Udon apologized.

Moegi was shocked at this. "What? Don't apologize. It's not your fault."

"Well, don't listen to Konohamaru. You aren't a bitch."

Moegi blushed. "Well, at least someone doesn't think so."

They silenced for a moment but it was broken by Naruto pulling the sheets off his bed and shaking them, attempting to get the dust-sand off. Udon and Moegi both looked at him.

"What? I'm not sleeping on a bed with foreign particles on it." He pointed to his bed. "That's nasty, right there, dattebayo."

Moegi smiled and Udon chuckled at Naruto's stupidity.

"What's so funny?" he asked, oblivious to his own actions.

"Nothing, dumb ass. Go to sleep," Moegi got off of the bed and used her hand to brush the particles from her side of the bed. Udon got up and did the same. They pulled back the covers and got in.

Moegi turned over on Udon's side and she looked at him thoroughly. _Maybe he isn't so bad. But, why the hell do I have to sleep with him? Make me sound like freakin' slut. Naruto.. you just get me so unnerved._. She turned back over and looked at Naruto. "Asshole," she let the word slip out of her mouth, loud enough so Naruto could hear, before falling into a deep, needed sleep.

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"H-Hizoku?" Sorano called out to the dark figure in the alley.

Suddenly, she could hear something rustling in the dark, like it was coming towards her. She strained her eyes to see into the darkness and saw a figure walking towards her.

"Don't be afraid. You're okay. I won't hurt you.. too much," a voice called from the distance.

"Huh?" Sorano asked, but was then interrupted by her body being taken over and her mind being consumed.

Her memory was traced back to when she was kidnapped by Akatsuki. It showed how she was running playfully through the halls of the bath house from Shikamaru and, then the wall caving in and a blinding, white light successfully turning her world to dark. Then, it showed the cave scene and the two men in the cave with her, Tobi and Zetsu, then, Zetsu setting her free and her chakra leaking out, letting her become the Bijuu inside of her and almost killing allies that meant alot to her. And, finally, her leaving with Shikamaru and Nozomi.

"Is that all you know?" the voice asked.

"Yes," she answered, involuntarily.

"Good, good," the voice said once again, before Sorano fell into a deep, dark sleep.

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Shikamaru turned over in the bed.

_Where is she? It's been two hours_.

He looked out of the door worriedly. He just couldn't go to sleep, thinking about her and especially since he was in a place he'd never been before. As he turned over on his back, he surveyed the room carefully, thinking about her the entire time. Her room was surprisingly clean, unlike the rest of her apartment. Her bed was in the middle of the room. Her closet was on the left side and there was a window over looking Suna on the opposite side. She had a small vanity to occupy the space on the opposite wall from the bed. He sat up, threw his legs over the edge of the bed, stood and walked towards the mirror. He put his hands on the counter and looked at his reflection. His hair was slightly askew from not fixing it in such a long period of time. He pulled the ponytail holder from his dark mane and let his locks fall down onto his hunched shoulders. He ran his fingers through his hair and shook it. He smirked into the mirror and fully observed himself. The shirtless Nara had such lazy, lifeless eyes, but his smirk was just so sexy for such a person as he was.

Suddenly, Shikamaru's gazing was interrupted by someone saying, "My, my. I thought you'd be asleep by now."

Shikamaru quickly turned his head and saw Sorano standing in the doorway to her bedroom. "I couldn't get to sleep knowing you weren't there. I was kind of worried. What took you so long?"

Sorano walked towards him. "You? Worried? Are you feeling okay?" she walked over and put her hand to his forehead, testing for a fever.

"No, I feel fine. Are you okay? You took such a long time-"

"It's okay. Don't worry about it," Sorano shirked his question, not knowing herself what had really happened. "Your hair, it's different. Why is it down?"

"I was in the middle of fixing it." He put his hands to his head in a means of putting his hair back up.

Sorano put her hand on his arm and brought it back down to its lazy position. "No, don't. I like it like that. It looks.. nice," she said, looking up at him innocently.

He smirked down at her. "I bet that's not what you're really thinking."

Smiling, she gaped at him. "That is what I'm thinking!"

"Denial?" He chuckled. "What else are you thinking of?" He towered over her, making her seem smaller and smaller by the second.

"N-nothing," Sorano wasn't quite used to seeing this side of Shikamaru.

Shikamaru lifted her chin with his pointer and middle fingers, forcing her to look him directly in the eyes. Huskily, he mumbled, "Tell me."

Suddenly, Sorano quickly broke the gaze and walked toward her bed. "Fine, but, I was only thinking about what was gonna happen tomorrow," and quietly she whispered, "..and tonight."

"What was that?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Did you not mumble-"

"No. I didn't say anything else."

Shikamaru walked over to the bed and got in. He assumed his usual position with his arms back behind his head, looking straight ahead. "So, why are you standing there, watching me?"

Sorano came back to reality. "Huh? Oh, uh.. I was thinking."

Suspiciously, he asked, "More thinking? Your glare was a little to hard to be thinking about me, so, what are you thinking about now?"

"I-it was?"

Shikamaru turned to look at her. "Yes. And you're still standing there, watching me."

Sorano quickly turned her head, cursing herself for her wretched staring habit. "I-I'm not staring at you," she chuckled nervously.

Shikamaru sat up. "Are you coming to bed, or what?"

Sorano looked back at him. "Yeah." She quickly took off her strapless top and skirt and walked out of the room. When she walked right back in with no clothes, he guessed she must have thrown the clothes into one of the large piles in her living room.

Sorano pulled back the covers to her bed and got in, Shikamaru staring at her the entire time. She got comfortable, and then looked at Shikamaru. "Why are _you_ staring at me?" she smiled.

He smirked back at her. "Nice to see you add more junk to the shit piles in your living room."

"Hey!" she scoffed. She reached for the pillow behind her head and bopped it right across his face. Suddenly, he grabbed the pillow and tried to pull it away from her, but she wouldn't let go. He pulled his arm over the edge of the bed, still grasping the pillow and her still clutching it, pulling Sorano on top of him, one's bare skin touching the other's. For but a second she took a slight breath and looked into his small, dark eyes through frayed strands of hair that were beginning to fall out of her two ponytails.

**He is so sexy.**

_What the hell?! Where did you come from?_

**I've been here the entire time. You haven't noticed?**

_No..._

**Well, I guess you're finally getting used to my humor.**

_Yeah. Humor._

**Either way, I have to be here to see my little Sora lose one of the biggest things in her life.**

_Nani?! What are you talking about?_

**Ugh. You are such an idiot.**

_And, you're an even bigger idiot for calling yourself an idiot._

**Shut up. Anyway, he's talking to you.**

"He is?" Sorano said, aloud.

"Who is?" Shikamaru asked, confused.

"Uh.. I said that out loud?"

"Uhm, yes?"

"I didn't say anything else other than that, right?"

"Just that you suck penis."

"NANI?!"

"I'm kidding!"

"You're gonna be sorry for that comment," Sorano said, letting go of the pillow, throwing her leg over his body while sitting up on her knees, and putting her hands on his waist, beginning to tickle him.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Shikamaru said, chuckling, dropping the pillow to the floor, and struggling to keep her hands away from his sides.

"I told you, you'd be sorry," Sorano smirked, leaning in closer to him and digging her fingernails even more into his flesh.

Shikamaru let out a loud laugh, realizing then that he'd never been tickled like that before. He tried his hardest to pull her tiny hands from his waist. "Stop it!"

"No! It's what you get!"

"I'm sorry! Stop punishing me, with your cruel and unusual ways!"

Sorano's actions completely stopped, except her light chuckling and her arms giving out, making her fall on top of Shikamaru. She stopped her giggling fit, lifted her head, and rested her chin on his chest. She stared into his eyes once again and smiled.

"Shika.." she started, the smile disappearing.

"Hm?" he answered while looking deeply into her eyes.

"Do you think we're moving too fast?"

"Kind of.."

Shikamaru paused and Sorano put a melancholy frown on her face, until he began to continue.

"But, I'm amazed at how much love I've suddenly acquired for you. It's come so quickly, but so easily. I feel like I'm supposed to be with you. I'm supposed to love you.."

Sorano's eyes expanded and contracted at the comment he'd said to her. He was right, that they had gained so much love for each other. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't a very logical love, it was a more passionate love.

"That's exactly how I feel, Shikamaru."

They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever as they realized this conversation was pointless. It was, somehow, fate that had brought them together. No sense was needed to be made. They could not be separated.

Sorano inched her way up Shikamaru's torso and their lips met, and for the first time, they knew everything was perfect. Nothing about that night could change how they felt about each other.

As one thing led to another, the heat between them rose and as he entered her for the first time, they didn't care about the rest of the world. It seemed as if it were just a fantasy of the world with two people on it.

It truly was perfect.

Until there was a knock at the door.

* * *

**I FINALLY got this chapter up.  
I'm, once again, sooo sorry I took so long.  
Busy, busy me, I guess. D:  
I'll try to update soon.****  
Oh, and Christina feels ten pounds lighter. (:**


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